Child of Wonder
by Evelyn-Sunshine
Summary: Daniel's been having strange dreams about a girl he thinks he used to know.
1. The Dream Girl

Daniel sat at the long table in the debriefing room. He drummed his fingers on the table in an odd pattern and seemed unable to stop.  
  
Directly across from him sat a girl who looked like she was about seventeen. She stared at him, her chin resting in her hands. She reached across the table and took the hand drumming on the table. Turning his hand palm up, she sighed contemplatively. "You have a future again," she said quietly. "One that's not boring what with being Ascended."  
  
"Being Ascended wasn't boring," he chastised.  
  
She looked at him from under her eyelashes. "Fine. Your life isn't lonely anymore. Being bored and being lonely are practically the same things."  
  
"Why do you keep saying that?" he demanded. "You can be alone and still not be bored."  
  
"So very young," she said, letting his hand go and leaning back into the chair she was sitting in. "You've never been truely alone to think that."  
  
He looked at her curiously. "But you're not alone."  
  
She smiled sympathetically. "You still don't remember what happened to me, do you?"  
  
Daniel was thrown into consciousness when someone knocked on the door to his office. He rubbed his eyes as Sam entered his office. She smiled, shaking her head. "Have you stopped drinking coffee? I've never walked in on you asleep so frequently in the whole time I've known you."  
  
He shook his head. "I don't know what's the matter with me. Every time I fall asleep, I have the same weird dream, and I have no idea what it means."  
  
"Really? How weird?"  
  
"Not weird like pink bunnies playing bongos on a trampoline or anything," he said quietly. "More weird like there's a person somewhere in the universe I've completely forgotten."  
  
"That is weird," Sam agreed. "But it's just a dream, Daniel."  
  
"No, Sam," he said slowly. "I really don't think it is."  
  
***  
  
Obviously, I don't own Stargate, but I get to claim the girl.  
  
Author's note: I'm still contemplating whether or not to continue. What do you think? Should the world and Daniel find out who the girl is? Feed-back encouraged and welcome. 


	2. Strange Visions

"Carter, that much coffee isn't good for you," Jack said as she poured a fourth cup.  
  
She shrugged. "I can't help it. I couldn't sleep last night. The most bizarre nightmares were keeping me awake."  
  
"Don't tell me you're still afraid of the boogie man, Major!" he teased.  
  
"I haven't been afraid of things that go bump in the night since I was two," she retorted. "A satanic blood-bath, on the other hand..."  
  
Any response Jack had was put on hold when Gen. Hammond entered the debriefing room. "Alright, people. From what Dr. Jackson has written in his report, we know that P3X-639 is uninhabited around the Stargate and possibly through the entire planet. This is to be a re-con mission and you will gather what information you can to determine who once controlled the planet."  
  
"Easy enough," Jack said, pushing his mission file away from him.  
  
~~  
  
"Hey, Jack!" Daniel called over his shoulder. "Come look at this!"  
  
"Oh, for crying out loud. It's just a rock!" Jack groaned as he made his way to where Daniel and Sam were playing with the science gadgets.  
  
"Actually, Sir," Sam cut in. "It's not a rock. It's..."  
  
"It is a weapon," Teal'c said, taking the device from Daniel. "But it is not Goa'uld."  
  
Daniel shook his head. "No, the writing on it looks like the writing we found on P3C-423. I think their race may have attempted colonization but were met with..." He trailed off, looking up into the distance at the nearby forest. Between the trees he saw a white figure playing between the tress. "Do you see that?" he asked, standing up and following the ghostly figure.  
  
"See what?" Jack demanded as they followed Daniel.  
  
She was just a child, completely innocent in the way she ran across the field. It was almost like a dream, she seemed to shimmer and bound across the grass in slow motion. Her giggle wafted over the breeze in the cool afternoon air.  
  
"I thought this planet was uninhabited," Jack muttered.  
  
"You see a person?" Teal'c asked, slightly confused.  
  
Sam looked at him, slightly startled. "You don't?" she demanded.  
  
"She's not real," Daniel muttered, oblivious to the others. "She can't possibly be real."  
  
"What is Daniel Jackson speaking of?" Teal'c demanded.  
  
Jack repositioned his weapon so it would be easier to use. "Pack it up, we're heading back," he commanded.  
  
~~  
  
"Unscheduled off-world activation," the gate technician said. "It's SG-1, Sir."  
  
Gen. Hammond quickly made his way down to the Gate Room. "Colonel, what is going on?" Gen. Hammond demanded, when the team walked through the gate, seemingly not running for their lives. "Your team was only gone for four hours! And what is wrong with Dr. Jackson?"  
  
Jack looked back at the muttering and incoherent Daniel. "Well, Sir, that's sort of why we came back early...." he started slowly.  
  
~~  
  
"Dr. Jackson's fine," Janet reported at the debriefing an hour later. "A little shocked, but since he's claiming to have seen a ghost, I'd suggest he talk to MacKenzie."  
  
"I'm not crazy," Daniel protested. "It was just the girl from my dreams coming to life and- my god, I sound like a raving lunatic."  
  
"That's nothing new," Jack said easily.  
  
Gen. Hammond narrowed his eyes in Jack's direction. "Colonel, this is no joking matter."  
  
He shrugged innocently. "I'm just saying that this isn't the first time ole Danny-boy's had visions that eventually turned out to be beneficial to quite a number of people."  
  
"Do you think this might be similar to the memory that helped us to save Ry'ac and Bratac?" Teal'c questioned.  
  
"No, I don't think so," Daniel said slowly. "These are very clear, almost like they were happening at that moment."  
  
"Is it possible this could be a residual effect from when you carried the alien personalities in your mind?"  
  
Sam shook her head before Daniel could respond. "I don't think so, Janet. If that's what it was, then why would the Colonel and myself have seen the same girl?"  
  
"You both saw her as well?" Hammond demanded. "Why didn't you say so before?"  
  
"I didn't realise she was the girl Daniel's been dreaming about."  
  
"Way to make me look crazy, Carter," Jack mumbled.  
  
"Wait- you saw her too?" Daniel questioned. "Why didn't you say something?"  
  
Teal'c lifted his chin indignantly. "I saw nothing."  
  
Jack rolled his eyes. "We mentioned it, but you weren't paying attention to us," Carter informed him. "Are you sure she was the girl from your dream?"  
  
"Absolutely." 


	3. The Debate and the Girl

`  
  
"I think we should go back to P3C-423," Daniel said, pacing the debriefing room. "I know there is something there that can tell me what is going on."  
  
"Daniel, there was nothing on that planet," Jack said, slightly annoyed at his endless pacing.  
  
"Not that we saw," he admitted. "But we hardly saw anything of the planet. There *has* to be something there. I don't know, maybe they live underground or even further away from the Stargate, but I know there is *something* there!"  
  
"Now, just slow down, Dr. Jackson," Gen. Hammond said, tired of watching him pace the room. "If you will just sit down, we can go over what options we have to handle this situation." Daniel nodded and sat down across from Sam. "Maj. Carter, what are your thoughts on this situation?"  
  
"Well," Sam started slowly, "I think that since all of us, except for Teal'c of course, since we all saw the same thing at the same time, there must be a reason. Maybe Daniel's right, maybe there is a race of people on P3C-423. They could have technology similar to the Nox and we just couldn't see them."  
  
"*Or*?" Jack demanded as she trailed off.  
  
"Or maybe the vision had nothing to do with the planet and we're just seeing a ghost," she said simply.  
  
"Ah, damn!" Jack muttered. "We're all going crazy."  
  
"Not according to MacKenzie," Janet pointed out. "Except for the vision you shared yesterday, you're all perfectly healthy."  
  
"What's your personal opinion of the situation, Doctor?" Hammond demanded.  
  
"Honestly, I don't know," she admitted. "I may be sceptical, but I'm going to chalk this one up to good old-fashioned ghosts."  
  
"It's the Ascended," Daniel said out of no-where. "One of them is trying to contact us."  
  
The whole room turned to stare at him. "Where did that come from?" Jack demanded.  
  
Daniel shrugged, looking as shocked as they all felt. "I have no idea. It just came to me and I had to say it."  
  
Sam turned away from Daniel and looked at Gen. Hammond. "Sir, I was just about to say the same thing," she admitted. "Somewhere in my mind, it just seemed to make sense."  
  
"I thought the same thing," Jack said grudgingly. "I think we should go back to P3C-423 and find out what the hell is going on." Gen. Hammond nodded his consent.  
  
Before he could give the command to prepare for departure, a thought sprang into Janet's mind. "Why is it Teal'c is the only one who never saw the girl?" An odd silence filled the room when no one could think of a logical answer.  
  
~~  
  
"I have a bad feeling about this," Sam said as walked into the locker room to get ready for embarkation. Jack looked up at her in the doorframe as he finished lacing up his boots. She suddenly shook her head and corrected herself. "No, not bad, weird. It's like, if we leave, we're going to miss something *here*."  
  
He nodded. "I know what you mean. But we're not going to find anything if we don't go looking for it. She's not just going to appear through the Gate." They both looked up as the familiar warning sounded throughout the base. "Is it just me, or does it look like we're not going off-world anymore?" Jack asked, as they hurried to the Gate Room.  
  
~~  
  
"Unscheduled off-world activation," the gate technician confirmed.  
  
"Do we have a team due back?" Hammond asked.  
  
The technician shook his head. "No, sir. But... it appears to be the Nox," he commented at Lya passed trough the Iris, a blindfolded girl holding onto her shoulder. The girl stumbled and fell onto the ramp as SG-1 hurried into the Gate Room.  
  
"Oh my god!" Daniel exclaimed as he looked at the girl.  
  
"It's her!" Sam said, unable to contain her shock, both at seeing her and knowing her gut feeling had been correct. "If this is what it's like to be psychic, I don't think I like it."  
  
"This is too weird," Jack muttered.  
  
"The girl is cold," Lya informed them. "Can you not do something for her?" 


	4. An Unsatisfying Conversation

`  
  
"We found her in the woods," Lya informed them.  
  
Carter shook her head a little. "How did you find her?"  
  
Lya looked her directly in the eye. "Her screaming. It is the reason her eyes are covered. They are sensitive to light. We could not help that."  
  
"Do you know where she came from?" Daniel asked. Lya looked up at the ceiling playfully. "Okay, fine. She came from the forest. Do you know how she got there or what planet she's originally from?"  
  
Lya shook her head, the soft smile still on her lips. "She is not Nox, nor is she Tollan. She is very young. What would you have us do with her?"  
  
"You already went to the Tollans?" Sam repeated, slightly surprised.  
  
"You're being unusually straight-forward," Jack informed the Nox woman. "I'm finding it a little creepy. Can you return to being much more vague and a lot less chatty?"  
  
"No, it's alright," Sam said quickly, shooting a glare in Jack's direction. "We'll keep her until we figure out where she's from, but she's not one of us." Lya nodded her head and left the debriefing room to go back to the Stargate. "Oh, wait! Do you know anything else about her?" Sam asked as the technicians opened the Event Horizon. "Anything to help us find out where she's from?"  
  
Glancing back at them, Lya nodded. "The blue lines on her back are writing."  
  
"We could have figured that out," Jack muttered as she went through the wormhole. "Wait a minute, what blue lines?"  
  
"Still think this is just a dream?" Daniel asked Sam as they made their way to the infirmary.  
  
She shook her head slowly. "I don't know what I think of this anymore," she admitted.  
  
~~  
  
Janet pulled up the edge of the blanket covering the girl. "I assume these are what Lya was talking about?" she asked after she finished with her preliminary examination.  
  
"I guess so," Sam said, a little amazed at the intricacy of the design. "Wow! That's amazing. Some of it looks like it was done with a toothpick!"  
  
"Or a laser. You know, the design looks kind of familiar," Daniel said, examining the lines. "Maybe Thai or Hindi, but not in any dialect that looks familiar." The girl moaned and pulled at the blanket; Janet let it fall back into place.  
  
"She very heat sensitive right now," Janet explained, tucking another blanket around her. "She came in freezing, five minutes ago she was sweating, now she's freezing again. I have no idea how to help her other then to just give her blankets and ice packs whenever she needs them. I'll take pictures of her back the next time she throws off the blankets," she promised.  
  
"How sensitive to light are her eyes?" Jack wondered out loud, uninterested in what the markings meant.  
  
"I was just about to find that out," she remarked, guiding the girl to sit up on the bed. She carefully untied the cloth and let it fall into the girl's lap.  
  
The moment the cloth left her eyes, the girl closed her eyes tighter then they seemed to be able to, and she began to scream from pain. "Turn out the lights!" Janet yelled, trying to replace the blindfold. Sam ran for the light switch. After she hit the switch, the girl quieted and opened her eyes for a few second before Janet replace her blindfold. Her pupils glowed a strange incandescent blue.  
  
"Woah," Jack exclaimed as Janet nodded for Sam to turn the lights back on.  
  
"That's some great cloth to keep the light out so well!" Sam exclaimed, moving to sit on the bed so she could comfort the shaking and scared girl.  
  
Gen. Hammond ran into the Infirmary with several other SGC members. "What the hell is going on in here?" he demanded.  
  
"We just discovered how the Nox found a girl in the middle of a forest," Janet remarked dryly.  
  
"And how great the quality of their weaving is," Sam added. "I suggest we invest in that market."  
  
"Did anyone else see that?" Jack demanded.  
  
"See what?" Daniel asked, rubbing his ears. "I think she ruptured my eardrum."  
  
"Right after the lights went out, she opened her eyes and they went all cat-in-the-dark-glowy kind of thing," he said.  
  
"She's a Goa'uld?" Hammond demanded.  
  
"What? No! I didn't say that!" Jack argued quickly.  
  
"You said her eyes were glowing!" Hammond snapped.  
  
"I said they glowed in the dark!" Jack protested. "They weren't glowing. It's entirely different. Do you really think the Nox would have brought us a Goa'uld?" When no one said anything he continued, "Yeah, okay, they're a little crazy and think everyone's nice and sweet, but they wouldn't have brought us someone they think we would hurt."  
  
"That's true, General," Sam agreed. "They brought her here for us to protect. I don't think they would have done that if they thought we might treat her badly."  
  
"What's your thought, Dr. Fraser?" Hammond asked.  
  
"I still have a few preliminary tests to get back, but she's human and not Goa'uld," Janet said confidently. "Aside from the tattoos down her back, she doesn't have a suspicious mark on her. I think she's shell shocked and just a little girl who's been through a hell of a lot, though God knows what that is."  
  
Gen. Hammond nodded slowly. "Alright, fine then. The girl stays," he said. "But if you see her eyes do anything related to glowing-" he warned Jack.  
  
"Yes, fine! I will make sure everyone runs into the room and scares the hell out of her so she attacks us out of fear," he said sarcastically.  
  
**********  
  
Author's Note: I've (finally) decided to set this story after "Chimera" for references and such. Unless I note a time jump into the furture, that's all you have to worry about. 


	5. Tests

`  
  
Sam sat at the girl's bedside while Janet finished documenting her vital signs for the next debriefing. She absently mindedly stroked the back of her hand with her thumb. "What do you think is wrong with her eyes?" Sam asked. "Could it just be that our lights are too harsh?"  
  
Janet shook her head. "In her MRI's, it showed a split between her actual eye and the nerves connecting it to the brain. It was healing very quickly... almost too quickly. I'm not sure how, but I think that may have something to do with it."  
  
"How?" Sam asked. "Wouldn't that just make her blind?"  
  
"I have no idea," Janet admitted. "I just know is that her eyes are healing and she can see light. According to everything I know about optometry, her eyes should be completely useless, but they aren't. She is literally a medical mystery. And to top it all off, she has Naquadah in her blood."  
  
Sam smiled. "That's hardly something new." Janet nodded in agreement. "How well healed were her eyes in the last scan?"  
  
Janet smiled thinly. "Decently," she replied. "I compared the first scan to the last and I think her eyes should be healed enough to have the blindfold removed in, oh, about... now."  
  
"What are we going to do if her eyes just can't handle light?" Sam asked quietly, letting go of the girl's hand. She moved across the room to the light switch, just in case Janet's calculations were off.  
  
Janet shrugged. "There's only one way to know for sure whether or not that's true." She slowly removed the blindfold from the girl's eyes. Her eyes were closed tightly, but she didn't make a sound. "No screams... I'll take that as a good sign," Janet said slowly. "Sweetie, can you try to open your eyes?" she asked gently.  
  
The girl did as she was told and slowly opened her eyes. Not huddled underneath a pile of blankets or curled into a protective ball, the SGC go their first clear look at the girl's face since her arrival. She had impossibly wide eyes, and gorgeous wide lips that trembled as she looked up at Janet. "I want to go home," she said, clearly on the verge of tears.  
  
Janet touched her face gently. "We'll get you there once we figure out where home is," she said tenderly. "Do you know the code to the Stargate that will get you to your home world?" She shook her head slowly, looking confused at the mention of the Stargate.  
  
"The Chappa'ai?" Sam suggested, moving back to sit beside the bed. She shook her head again. Sam reached out and took her had again. "That's alright," she assured her. "We'll find your home." 


	6. Too Few Answers

`  
  
"What have you found out, Doctor?" Gen. Hammond asked when the group had gathered for the fourth time that day.  
  
Janet passed her folder over to the General. "Well, she's little, but not as little the Nox. Her blood seems normal but there's something that seems a little strange about it- I mean, aside from the Naquadah, which is becoming fairly normal for around here. It's her vital signs that concern me."  
  
"How so?" Daniel asked.  
  
"Well," she started, opening her file, "her heart rate drops and increases dramatically for no reason at all. Her breathing is the same, sometimes it's very laboured and others it's very shallow. Her vision comes and goes, her strength does the same. She's still going through hot and cold flashes, and they're becoming less severe, but I don't know how long that's going to last. I've tried medicating her, but so far it doesn't seem to make any difference."  
  
"Does it look like this kid is going to be dying on us any time soon?" Jack asked bluntly.  
  
Janet shook her head. "I can't say for certain, but right now I don't think so. Her immune system is strong and her scans all came back clear. I think there just most be some element or chemical found abundantly on her planet that isn't here and she's going through withdrawals. She may get over it soon, but if she doesn't her immune system might begin to weaken, and then..."  
  
"Do you have any idea how to help her?" Hammond asked.  
  
She shrugged helplessly. "I can do whatever I would normally do for patients, but I don't think it'll effect her in any way. Honestly, I don't think any normal medical practice would help her anyway."  
  
~~  
  
Teal'c sat in the Infirmary looking at nothing while the girl watched him carefully. He slowly turned to look at her and she met his steady gaze.  
  
After a number of minutes staring at one another, Teal'c stood up from his chair and moved to one closer to her cot. "Would you care to play a game of Gin Rummy?" he asked. She nodded and Teal'c went to the other side of the Infirmary where O'Neill had left a deck of cards.  
  
They played the game in relative silence, speaking only when it was necessary for the game. They played a number of hands before SG-1 and Dr. Fraser walked into the Infirmary.  
  
"How are you doing?" Janet asked, feeling the girl's forehead and checking her pulse. She looked back at Teal'c. "Has she been alright?"  
  
He nodded. "Indeed. The girl has been most well."  
  
The girl looked up at Janet. "Cold," she said quietly.  
  
She nodded. "I'll get you another blanket."  
  
"Is it just me," Jack broke in, "or does it seem like we need to find something to call her other than the girl or she?" The group looked around at each other. "Did anyone even ask her what her name was?" They all looked down at the girl.  
  
~~  
  
"What do you mean, 'she doesn't know her name?'" Gen. Hammond demanded as Sam and Daniel rushed to his office with their odd information.  
  
"Just what we said, Sir," Daniel said hurriedly. "She may have absolutely no memory at all if she can't remember her own name. Before, we'd thought she'd just forgotten the Stargate because they referred to it as something else, but she might not remember the Stargate because she simply doesn't remember *anything*."  
  
"So, you're saying the girl has amnesia?"  
  
"Speaking of," Sam cut in. "Sir, Col. O'Neill brought up a good point. We have to have something to call the girl. We can't simply refer to her as she and the girl."  
  
Gen. Hammond nodded. "Very well. You two are now officially the naming committee."  
  
Daniel and Sam exchanged a look. "WHAT?" they both demanded at the same time. 


	7. Equally Unsatisfying Conversations

`  
  
"Do you remember anything about your life?" Daniel asked. She shook her head slowly, her eyes glued to the floor. "Do you know how you got onto the Nox' planet? What about your name? Or your markings- do you know what they mean?" Every question was answered with the same slow head motion. "Do you remember being Ascended?" he finally asked in desperation.  
  
At this question she looked up at him. "You were Ascended."  
  
"Yes!" Daniel exclaimed momentarily over-joyed to finally have a foothold. "I was Ascended and you were too... were being the operative word, which is why you have absolutely no memory." He trailed off and rubbed his head tiredly.  
  
"You are upset with me," she remarked timidly.  
  
He shook his head. "No, I'm not upset. It's just..."  
  
"Upsetting that I don't know anything?" she offered. "What are you looking for in me other then the answer to a dream?"  
  
"How did you know about that?"  
  
She shrugged. "It's on the surface of your mind. Quite frequently, actually. Some of the others as well... Jack and Sam, you call them, but they answer to other titles."  
  
"You're psychic," he said slowly. "That's how you knew I was Ascended?" She nodded. He rubbed his chin, watching her closely. "Okay, I don't want you to tell anyone that you can do this, alright?" he said quietly, kneeling down in front of her. "It's very important."  
  
"You are afraid your friends will react in a negative manner," she said slightly confused.  
  
He nodded. "Yes, actually, I am. Most people around here can't read other people's minds quite as well as you can. If others find out, some people we don't like too much might try to take you away from us. Can you promise you won't let anyone know you can do this?" She nodded her head solemnly. Daniel nodded in return. "Alright. Good... So you really don't know your name?"  
  
She shook her head again, and then they sat in silence for a short while. "They're not tattoos," she said quietly.  
  
"What?" Daniel asked, surprised by unprovoked remark. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"On my back. They're not tattoos," she said a little louder. "Criminals are tattooed so all can know their misdeeds. What I have are markings I received at birth so none would mistake me."  
  
"Mistake you as what?" he wondered.  
  
She shook her head. "I don't know."  
  
He shrugged. "Well, at least that's something. You don't happen to know what language they're in?" he asked hopefully. Her only response was to slowly shake her head. He watched her carefully and then sighed. "Why don't we start this again?" he asked rhetorically, extending his hand. "I'm Daniel."  
  
She smiled and slowly extended her hand.  
  
~~~~  
  
"I'm hungry," the girl said to Janet as the doctor monitored her vital signs for the fourth time in the past half hour.  
  
Janet nodded. "That's good. Do you know if you're allergic to anything... no, you wouldn't," she said in response to the girl's blank stare. "Nor would you know what to choose from a list of foods." She sighed and watched the girl's face as she thought about what to do. "Why don't we start you off easily, with some pretty simple foods and see how you do?"  
  
She turned to one of the nurses who nodded and immediately went in search of simple foods for the girl to eat. "Are you thirsty?" Janet asked as Jack entered the infirmary. She nodded with much more enthusiasm then before, her eyes widening slightly.  
  
"She's been here for seven hours! Are you trying to dehydrate the girl, Doc?" Jack baited as Janet handed her a cup of cold water. "Is something wrong?" he asked as the girl made a face while swallowing the liquid.  
  
"I don't like this," she said, handing over the full cup.  
  
Jack raised an eyebrow. "It's water. Water tastes the same everywhere- like nothing."  
  
She shook her head. "I don't like this," she repeated.  
  
"What are you going to drink?" Janet demanded mostly to herself, taking the cup away from her. "I suppose you could have coffee," she muttered absent-mindedly.  
  
"What, and turn her into an addict like Daniel?" Jack demanded as Janet poured her a cup.  
  
"I can hook her up to an IV again, but if her mouth's dry, she has to drink something," Janet retorted.  
  
"It's hot," she said, taking the cup from Janet.  
  
She nodded. "That's how coffee is." The girl drank a small amount and then stopped before swallowing. "You don't like it?" Janet guessed as she unceremoniously spat the drink back into the cup.  
  
"I'd prefer your water," she muttered bitterly as Janet prepared her an IV.  
  
Jack laughed as he poured the discarded coffee down the drain. "Daniel will be so disappointed to hear he won't have to compete with you for his precious coffee."  
  
Janet frowned slightly at this remark. "Colonel, would you be so kind as to watch our guest? I'm going to go help my nurse pick out food for someone who doesn't like water."  
  
Before he could say he something else to do, Janet was down the corridor and on her way to the commissary. Jack looked at the girl and she returned his stare.  
  
"So... no name, huh?" he started slowly. She shook her head. "And I guess you wouldn't know if you have any interests... And you wouldn't know how do your eyes do that glowing thing to make me look less crazy to everyone? It isn't a snake in your head, is it?"  
  
"My eyes?" she parroted. "They glow? Why would I have a snake in my head?"  
  
He nodded. "I kinda figured you wouldn't know. It was a longshot but I still had to try it." They sat quietly for a moment, watching each other. "So... have any idea what you name is?" She shrugged slowly than shook her head. "Any idea what you *want* to be called?"  
  
"Why do I have to be called something?" she asked slowly.  
  
Jack smiled slightly. "Because we can't just call you kid all the time. Besides, we have something here called paper work that's very difficult to do if you don't have a name."  
  
She thought carefully, biting her lower lip. "Something not to complicated. Like Ann."  
  
Jack smiled and reached over to ruffle her hair. "I'll pass this onto the committee in charge of naming you. But they might decide to call you something else. Something really long and confusing."  
  
"Why?"  
  
He shrugged. "Because it's Daniel and Carter." 


	8. The Naming

`Jack groanded as he walked into the debriefing room. "I might as well just set up camp in here," he complained. "Because I'm not getting work done anywhere else until we get all of this sorted out."  
  
"When do you ever get work done?" Sam demanded, now drinking soda in place of coffee.  
  
"Very funny, Major. I happen to be a very efficient guy."  
  
"Indeed," Teal'c replied, taking his usual seat.  
  
"Dr. Jackson, Maj. Carter, have you come up with a name for our young guest?" Gen. Hammond asked to commence what must have been the hundredth meeting that day.  
  
"Yes, Sir," Sam responded quickly. "After... hours of debate, we have agreed upon the name Andie."  
  
Daniel rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Agreed. That's the word for it."  
  
"How'd you choose Andie for our mystery guest?" Hammond wondered.  
  
Sam shrugged. "Jack said she wanted a simple name. Also, what Daniel suggested was unpronounceable and we couldn't agree on anything relatively normal for a temporary name."  
  
"And you won the coin toss," Daniel added, almost bitterly. "And come on, for all we know her name is... equally unpronounceable."  
  
"I like the name Andie!" Sam protested. "It just seems like it fits her!"  
  
"Yeah, Andie *Carter*," Daniel taunted. "Again... YOU WON IN A COIN TOSS!"  
  
"You know, I always said we need more hot Carters around here," Jack muttered teasingly. Sam shot him a silencing glare.  
  
Gen. Hammond rolled his eyes. "I will pretend I did not hear that, Colonel. I will also pretend it was in reference to Jacob." Daniel stiffled a laugh as Jack had to hide a shudder. The General turned back to Janet. "Dr. Fraser, is there any change in her vitals?"  
  
"Change? Oh, yes. Plenty of change. What I want to see is some lack in change," Janet responded. "But she's been eating if not drinking, so I don't see too much reason to worry. For the moment." A loud page for Janet to return to the infirmary sounded throughout the base. She looked up, slightly annoyed. "I told her– mean Andie, to come here in a few minutes so we could see if we could explain some things to her. It may take a while, but she didn't want an SF to carry her." She stood and was quickly making her way down the corridor.  
  
A lieutenant hurried into the room and whispered something into Gen. Hammond's ear. He nodded and stood as well. "I have a call I must take. We'll take a short break until Miss Carter arrives and the doctor returns.  
  
Jack rolled his eyes, slouching down in his chair as Hammond hurried out. "Does no one like this room anymore?" he demanded   
  
"What's wrong with this room?"  
  
The remaining occupants looked up as Andie walked slowly into the debriefing room, only stumbling once she'd reached her chair. Daniel caught her and helped her to sit. An SF nodded to them once she was situated with them before returning back down the hall to where he'd come from. She smiled appreciatively when Jack passed her a plate of crusty bread. "Doc told us you like bread," he said simply.  
  
"A *lot*," Sam added, taking a seat at the table, a cup in her hand.  
  
"What's that?" she asked, a piece of bread halfway to her mouth.  
  
Looking down into her cup, a little surprised, Sam passed it over to her. "It's just a Diet Coke," she replied.  
  
"Still maintain you prefer the taste, Major?" Jack taunted.  
  
"I do!" Sam protested as Andie eyes the liquid suspiciously.  
  
"It looks like coffee," she said. "Are you sure it isn't coffee?"  
  
Daniel chuckled. "I promise you that soda taste nothing like coffee."  
  
Jack nodded. "And *diet* soda is disgusting," he added as she put the cup to her lips.  
  
"Just because you don't like the taste-" Sam snapped, but she let her thought trail off as Andie drained the cup in one breath.  
  
"More," she said, holding the cup out. "Please?" she added as an after thought.  
  
"I guess some people do prefer the taste," Daniel commented as Sam slowly reached out for the empty cup.  
  
~~~  
  
"She's been downing diet soda for the past hour. That can't be healthy," Jack commented. "Nor can it taste very good."  
  
"I don't care what you think of the taste," Janet snapped, "something in that soda stabilized all of Andie's vitals. Her heart beats at a steady pace, she's stopped having hot and cold flashes, and most impressively, I can let her walk down the hall without sending and SF after her to catch her if she falls."  
  
Gen. Hammond looked skeptically. "Are you sure these are lasting effects?" he questioned. "It's only been an hour."  
  
"Her vitals were varying by the minute earlier," Sam reminded him.  
  
"How is that even possible?" Jack wondered loudly.  
  
"I think there may be something in the water on her planet, some chemical that her body has adapted to needing. Here, we only find it in diet soda."  
  
Daniel nodded. "Aspartame probably. If it were caffeine she'd drink coffee."  
  
Nodding again, Hammond made a decision. "Whatever the reason, we are going to make sure that little girl has all the Diet Coke she wants."  
  
He motioned for them all to leave. Sam followed Jack out into the corridor, a funny little smile on her face. He glared at her. "What do you want Carter?" he demanded.  
  
"Oh, nothing," she said happily.  
  
"Just shut up," he snapped.  
  
Her smiled widened. "I didn't say anything."  
  
"You were thinking it," he accused. "You think *very* loudly."  
  
"Whatever you say, sir," she giggled.  
  
"No giggling!"  
  
"Yes, sir!" she said mockingly. 


	9. Ascension Shock

`  
  
The seemingly endless series of meeting that day had left Daniel dead on his feet. By 2000 that night, he was thoroughly looking forward to a nice relaxing night of falling asleep over the fascinating writing they'd found on Andie's back.  
  
He rolled his eyes as he fell back into his chair. "*Andie*," he muttered as he bent over the intricate script. "Dammit, Sam's right... it does fit her."  
  
A girl, almost identical to Andie appeared in Daniel's office on just the other side of his desk. "You are absolutely worthless!" she muttered.  
  
"Excuse me, what?" Daniel asked before looking up. When he finally did, he practically fell out of his chair. "Who are you and how did you get in here? Wait, you're- but how...?"  
  
She sighed. "It's a long and complicated story, so you should ask Sam and Jack."  
  
"That doesn't make any sense. They were my dreams."  
  
"Oh, come on! Does anything around here *really* make any sense?"  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
"Andromache, but that's not important right now." Her mood suddenly changed and instead of seeming annoyed, she was now completely enraged. "If I had a physical form in this plane of existence, I'd hit you!" she shouted.  
  
"What? Why?" Daniel demanded in shock. "What did I do?"  
  
"You are taking way too long on this one!" she snapped.  
  
"On what one?"  
  
She rolled her eyes. "We sent her to you so you would take care of her. For you to do that, you need to figure out what she is. I would have thought you'd be able to translate something much faster than this."  
  
"Translate? Translate what?" he repeated. "Do you mean the writing on her back?"  
  
"No, all the lost tablets of Babylon. Yes, the writing on her back!"  
  
"She hasn't even been here a whole day! How fast do you want me to work?"  
  
"Well, I had expected you to be on a recognisable path towards translation," she retorted. "As it is, you still haven't recognised the language!"  
  
"And how am I supposed to do that quickly?" he demanded. "I have no idea what it is! It's a completely foreign dialect if not an *entirely* new language!"  
  
She rolled her eyes. "You can write a language in more then one alphabet!" she moaned. "Don't tell me that's what has you stuck!"  
  
Daniel glared at her. "If you had a physical form in this plane of existence, I'd hit you," he informed her.  
  
She snorted. "Where have I heard that before?" They both looked towards the door when several people ran by in the direction of a frantic screaming. She muttered a tiny "Oops" as Daniel hurried out the door, following the group of SFs who were running towards Sam's office. Sam was struggling against the many hands trying to force her to sit and calm down. Tears were streaming down her face as she tried to make it out the door.  
  
"No, let me go! I have to help Andreya!" she shouted. "They're *killing* her! I have to help her!" She spotted Jack and Daniel as they pushed their way through the crowd. "Colonel! Daniel, we have to help her! They're killing her– they're killing Andie!" she cried frantically.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Daniel demanded. "Janet has her in the infirmary, she's fine."  
  
Jack turned to the group of people. "Get back to your jobs. Carter's fine. It was just a nightmare." They looked around at each other before slowly walking away. Jack led Sam and Daniel back into the confines of Sam's office.  
  
Sam looked at them helplessly, considerably calmer than before. "I... I don't know what... but I saw it!" she exclaimed. "I saw it and it was real. They were killing Andie!"  
  
"Who was killing her?" Daniel demanded. "And she's very alive, how could it be real?"  
  
Jack gave her a strange look. "You said Andreya before."  
  
"Did I?"  
  
He nodded. "I had the same dream."  
  
Daniel looked between them. "What dream? You didn't tell me about any dream. And what does any of this have to do with Andie?"  
  
"A group of Jaffa have a girl hanging by her ankles from the ceiling... the girl... Andreya," Jack started slowly. "They're... draining all of the blood from her body."  
  
"God, it was everywhere," Sam moaned. "And she was conscious for so long... I swear, it was Andie," she insisted, her lament suddenly turning into a defence. "It was her face– I knew it the minute Janet took that blindfold off."  
  
"And who could forget that scream?" Jack added. "Any unnecessarily violent dreams recently, Dr. Jackson?" he asked pointedly.  
  
Daniel shook his head slowly. "Flashes of red and... I don't know, it's always such a blur. I usually just remember the end where the girl tells me my futures is no longer lonely.... or boring. I always thought that was odd– the SGC has never been boring."  
  
"Well, that's... not normal," Jack commented. They all looked up when the door opened and Teal'c walked in. "Hey, T! Any dreams lately?"  
  
"Of what sort?" he inquired. "I was informed that Major Carter was acting out after a particularly gruesome dream."  
  
"Torture victim... bloody, ugly... big-false-god-worshipping Jaffa," he prompted.  
  
Sam nodded. "It wasn't just a dream," she said quietly. "It was someone's death."  
  
"I've been having the same dream," Jack added quickly.  
  
Teal'c shook his head once. "I have had no dreams of this sort. If I do, I will be sure to inform you of them."  
  
Daniel shook his head slowly. "We're going to have to do something," he said suddenly. "Obviously, there is someone or something out in the universe who's trying to protect this girl and we have some part in this. I think this is going to get big and complicated and extremely confusing before we even find out where she's *from* and I haven't gotten enough sleep over the past month to be able to process this rationally."  
  
Sam looked from Jack to Daniel, biting her lip while she thought. "I think we need to warn Tessa about our... new situation," she said quietly.  
  
Jack groaned. "No! Not Tessa!"  
  
"Why do hate her so much?" Daniel demanded, mildly amused.  
  
Teal'c smiled thinly. "I would very much like to see Lt. Col. Kinsey again. She is always very astute in her observations about the SGC."  
  
"And she always annoys Jack," Daniel added with a malicious grin. "That's oh so enjoyable."  
  
Sam had her own malicious grin. "And she likes you a *lot*, doesn't she, Danny?"  
  
Jack groaned. "Why can't our lives be simple?"  
  
"Do you really think anyone's life is simple?" Sam demanded.  
  
He shrugged. "I'm sure they're a hell of a lot less complicated than this."  
  
"True," she agreed. "But how to do other people ever have any fun?"  
  
*****************  
  
Authors note: I was looking over the bits and pieces I've written, and it's occurred to me, for my story to work, the end of season seven can't exist. So, now it doesn't.  
  
Also, I have a story that intorduces Tessa to SG-1, but since she's not going to show up for a few chapters, I'll post it sometime before then. 


	10. Jailbreak

`  
  
Andie poked her spoon around in her bowl of blue jell-O while SG-1 ate lunch in the conservatory. "How long do I have to stay here?" Andie asked, sounding much younger than the fifteen or sixteen years Janet had decided she possessed."I feel like I'm being crushed at the hot centre of a planet."  
  
"Well... you are under a mountain," Jack replied glibly.  
  
"Why must you keep reminding her?" Daniel demanded, as Andie became dramatically pale. "Now she's just going to pretend to suffocate again."  
  
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you mocking me, Dr. Jackson?" she demanded.  
  
"Why don't you tell me," he challenged. She glared at him for a moment before she turned her nose up imperiously. "What a little princess we found."  
  
Jack nodded in agreement. "I admit, I preferred it a couple weeks ago when you were still quiet and timid. I don't like this bubbly, demanding thing you're doing now. It's too much like a teenager."  
  
"Janet says I am a teenager."  
  
"*Janet* needs to have her filthy mouth rinsed out with a harsh abrasive soap," Jack informed her. "Being a teenager is a very, very bad thing. And I forbid you from being one."  
  
"That's not very nice!" Andie chastised. "Cassie's a teenager."  
  
"Yes, and she's obnoxious, opinionated, and annoying. Don't ever turn into her."  
  
Daniel smirked. "Oh, come on, Jack. You adore Cassie."  
  
"That doesn't mean I need two of her in my life."  
  
Andie shoved a spoonful of jell-O into her mouth. She then looked at her empty spoon thoughtfully. "Does all of your food taste like this?"  
  
Pushing his food away and stood up from the table. "That's it," he declared. "You're going AWOL."  
  
~~~~~~  
  
"Come in," Sam called when someone knocked on her lab door.  
  
Jack pulled an usually tiny airman into Sam's office. Sam gave him a wondering look before she noticed Andie was hidden underneath the too large hat, her long hair quickly turned up over her collar. Jack winked at her. "Were initiating a jailbreak," he said, conspiratorially. "Are you in or are you against us?"  
  
Sam jumped up from her desk and grabbed her keys. "In, but only if I'm driving," she said. "I'm not going to let Andie die in a car crash her first time out of the base."  
  
"I don't drive that recklessly!" Jack protested as they hurried down the corridor to where Daniel and Teal'c were holding an elevator.  
  
"Hurry up!" Daniel hissed. "Janet can only distract the General for so long before her comes looking for us."  
  
They all piled into the elevator and walked nonchalantly out of the base. When they stepped out of the doors, Andie's breath caught in her throat as she looked up at the sky. Sam hugged her around the shoulders. "Don't stop here, there's plenty more to see," she assured her.  
  
She smiled up at her. "I've never seen a sky before," she said excitedly. "Are they all like this one? Blue and... really, really big?"  
  
Daniel gave her a quizzical look as they got into Jack's car, Sam in the driver's seat. "You must have seen a sky at some point. You just don't remember it."  
  
She shook her head. "No. I'm pretty sure I haven't."  
  
Teal'c looked over at her. "Have you remembered something from your previous life, Andie Carter?" he inquired.  
  
She shook her head, climbing into the car and buckling her seatbelt. "I don't think so. I just know I've never seen a sky before."  
  
"Well, that makes perfect sense," Jack said with false sincerity as they pulled away from the base.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Daniel, Sam, and Teal'c sat on a park bench, watching while Jack attempted to teach Andie how to play football. Sam smiled as Jack caught Andie around the waist as she tried to run past him. She was glad they'd been able to give her a day to run around outside and shop for her own clothes, which she'd promptly swapped the BDU's for. She was just afraid that when they got back to the base the General would make future ventures next to impossible.  
  
"It's possible Andie Carter has never seen a sky before," Teal'c said to Daniel. "There are a number of races who live entirely underground."  
  
"I supposed that's possible," Daniel said unsurely. "I just don't understand this whole amnesia situation."  
  
Andie ran over to where they were sitting, her arms wrapped tightly around the ball. "Can we go eat someplace before we go back... home?" she asked, stumbling before she said base. "Jack says I need to try Chinese food."  
  
Daniel chuckled. "Really? Jack wants Chinese? That is a *shock*," he said sarcastically. Andie gave him a strange look.  
  
Laughing, Sam got to her feet. "Yes. We can get you food before we head back," she agreed as Jack came up behind her. "We might as well make the most of this day."  
  
"Because who knows if we'll get another one," Andie said before Sam had finished thinking it. It was Sam's turn to issue an odd look.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
"What in the Sam Hill is going on here?" Gen. Hammond exploded as SG-1 unsuccessfully tried to sneak Andie back onto base. "You have been gone for five hours with a person restricted to the base! Did you think no one was going to notice?"  
  
Jack looked him squarely in the eye. "To be honest, sir, I didn't really care."  
  
Daniel shifted his stance uneasily. "General... we just wanted to show Andie there actually is more to Earth than just Cheyenne Mountain."  
  
"Then we did not take her quite far enough," Teal'c commented.  
  
Sam cleared her throat nervously. "Sir... I was afraid Andie might develop rickets."  
  
Hammond raised a sceptical eyebrow then turned to Andie to see what she had to say for the incident. She smiled excitedly. "I got new clothes and Jack taught me how to play football. But it's very different from the football that's on Telemundo," she informed him. She looked over at the amused faces of SG-1. "What?" she demanded.  
  
Gen. Hammond looked from one member of SG-1 to the next. "I'm afraid I have no other choice," he said, helplessly resigned. "Andie will now have off-base privileges, but only with the members of SG-1 and Dr. Fraser. She will required to be back on-base starting at 2200 hours every night." Andie squealed and clapped her hands happily.  
  
"Zero hour," Jack countered.  
  
Sam shot him a look. "Sir, this isn't an auction."  
  
"Twenty-three hundred hours," Hammond amended.  
  
Sam look over at him shocked. Jack nodded. "Deal."  
  
"Just don't get her a dog," Hammond warned. 


	11. Learning Curve

`  
  
"Sam! Sam! Guess what!" Andie called as she ran into the infirmary after SG-1 reported for their return-home physicals. "Janet taught me how to read and Cassie gave me a CD where the two lead singers are lesbians... well, actually they just pretend to be lesbians. What's a lesbian? Janet took away my dictionary when she found out Cassie was teaching me words."  
  
Sam covered a smile at the content of the last part of her statement until she was hit by the real news. "Wait. Janet taught you how to read? We were only gone three days! How did she teach you that in three days?"  
  
She shrugged flippantly. "I don't know. Does it usually take a very long time?" She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Now Daniel's going to make the night all boring."  
  
They looked up when a laughing voice came up behind them. "Don't worry about that," Jack assured her. "I promise to not let Daniel make the night all boring. It will be the exact opposite of boring. In fact, it will almost be fun."  
  
"Oh, my gosh! Jack! Guess what, guess what!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down happily.  
  
"You're replacing all of Fraser's needles with cotton swabs?"  
  
"No, this is a good thing," she said with a huge smile on her face. "Gen. Hammond said I don't have to be on base all the time now and that if I'm very good, in a few months I don't have to stay here when you go on missions!" The smile on her face was quickly replaced with a look of distaste. "But if I do that then he says I'll have to start going to school, and Cassie told me there are lots of people at school."  
  
Janet laughed as she came up behind them. "I got to take her home with me over night while you were gone," she informed them. "The General said she doesn't have to stay on base over night, with the blood work we've done, I'm fairly certain Andie won't introduce any new viruses or catch anything we all have natural immunities to. Now, it's just a matter of finding a home for our little foundling," Janet said, winking at Andie.  
  
"I'll do it," Sam spoke up immediately. Jack and Janet looked over at her, a little shocked. "I mean, she's practically grown. It'll be like having a new puppy who can clean up after themselves."  
  
Andie smiled happily. "Can I get a puppy?" Jack looked away to hide the smile that was taking control of his face and a small giggle escaped Janet's lips at the look of good-humoured annoyance that crossed Sam's face.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Sam knocked on Daniel's door and let herself in. "Andie's ready to go whenever you are. She's really excited to have a night out with her boys."  
  
"Well, she hates being on base," he said sensibly.  
  
"Almost as much as she hates large groups of people. Oh, and while you're out, make sure Jack doesn't get Andie a puppy. He had that look about him, like he was going to bring up that 'every kid has to have a dog' rule again."  
  
Daniel smiled. "I'll do that, but where's he going to buy a dog from at 2100? Besides, we're taking her to see a movie. She really needs to get out more, it's all she's been talking about for a week."  
  
Sam smiled. "I think she has a crush on you."  
  
It was Daniel's turn to smile. "Crush? Yes. Me? No."  
  
"Who would it bee then? Teal'c?"  
  
"No... Jack."  
  
The idea seemed to completely throw her off balance. "What? She does not!"  
  
"Come on, Sam!" he laughed. "Jack's her hero. He got permission for her to live off base while we're here. That, and he's oh so foxy."  
  
Sam gave him a strange look. "You're sick."  
  
"And you're jealous of a 15 year-old."  
  
"I am not jealous of her!" Sam exclaimed, to which Daniel merely nodded with a 'yeah, whatever' look on his face. "I'm not!" she insisted. When he didn't respond, she rolled her eyes. "How's your translation coming?"  
  
He glared at her. "I should have know you'd throw that in my face."  
  
She smiled teasingly. "So... not well? Has your Ascended friend been around recently?"  
  
"You mean you didn't feel the earthquake she caused?" he muttered bitterly. "She keeps going on and on about how important Andie is, but then she doesn't explain why!   
  
"Somehow I get the feeling that all of the answers are looked up in the cute little dreams we've been having."  
  
He nodded slowly. "Yeah. Unfortunately. "So, did you hear that Janet taught Andie how to read in a three days?" 


	12. A Weekend Home

`  
  
"Daniel! This is *boring*!" Andie whined, not for the first time that morning.  
  
"For a girl who learned how to read in an afternoon, I would imagine so," he retorted.  
  
She pouted. "Can't we do this on base?"  
  
He immediately shook head. "Security cameras. God knows what would happen to you"  
  
"I'd never be allowed off-base again," she sighed. Her face suddenly lit up. "Hey, instead of doing this, I'm sure there's a game on Telemundo. Why don't I translate it for you?"  
  
He shook his head. "You learned English the same day you appeared through the Stargate, I know you're good at that." He disappeared back into the hall closet and reemerged holding a large vase. "I want to see if you can move something of a larger size."  
  
She rolled her eyes and slouched further down into the chair she was occupying. "Why do you have to know all of this?" she demanded. "You know as I figure things out I tell you. And then show you. Over. And over. And over... until my head explodes."  
  
He rolled his eyes and placed the vase in front of her. "You're head looks perfectly intact to me. Try not to break this," he warned.  
  
"Why? Is it more priceless junk?" she muttered as she sent the vase in circles around his head. He grabbed it as the front door swung open. "Sam!" she called happily, jumping up. "Daniel's using me as a science project!" she said as she ran across the room to use Sam as a protective shield.  
  
"Daniel, I told you to stop that!" she chastised lightly as Teal'c and Jack carried in pizzas, beer, and diet soda. Andie went straight for the soda. "Have you had anything to drink since we've been gone?" Sam demanded in a gentle tone. Andie shook her head as she chugged down one of the cans. She turned and gave Daniel a questioning eyebrow.  
  
"I told her to tell me when she wanted a soda!" he protested. "And I would have noticed if she started shaking."  
  
"No he wouldn't," Andie said, her tone taunting. "He wouldn't have cared."  
  
"Children, children," Jack broke into the impending argument. "I don't think you're going to want to eat cold pizza, so why don't we pick on the Spacemonkey later?" Andie stuck her tongue out at him.  
  
"Jack, I don't think you should encourage her to be a brat!" Daniel complained as they made their way into the kitchen.  
  
"What's a space monkey?" Andie demanded as she took a seat on the counter. "Is it a monkey that lives in space? I thought monkeys lived in trees? Or is Daniel the monkey?"  
  
Teal'c handed Andie a piece of pizza. "It is a term O'Neill sometimes uses when addressing Daniel Jackson. It is a term that Daniel Jackson does not particularly care for."  
  
Andie giggled. "That's funny!"  
  
Sam and Jack started to laugh and Daniel rolled his eyes unhappily. "Oh, God! You've passed it onto her!" he moaned. "Why won't you just let it die?"  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Sam found Daniel working in his office. She shook her head in disapproval. "You're not supposed to be working," she said. "It's our weekend off."  
  
Daniel gave her a sceptical eyebrow. "Who are you and what have you done with Sam Carter?" he demanded teasingly. "But I need to do this. I can't do it at the base."  
  
"For fear of Kinsey," Sam nodded. "Found out anything interesting about my girl's brain?"  
  
Daniel nodded. "I can't be sure, but I think she–well, her people–might not be *young*."  
  
Sam looked surprised. "Really? Do you have any proof?"  
  
He nodded slowly, still not having fully disclosed Andie's telepathic and telekinetic abilities. "A few days ago, I caught her reading a book by Stephen Hawking, and it wasn't even the one he wrote that regular people could understand... and I swear she was muttering under her breath about how simplistic his ideas were."  
  
"Well, what were you planning on doing today?"  
  
"You know how she picked up Spanish?"  
  
Sam nodded. "Same way with English– I know she didn't understand us when she first came through the Gate. Very much like the Nox that way... ah. I see you mean about the whole 'young' thing."  
  
He nodded. "Well, since Janet taught her how to read, I want to see if that transfers over languages...."  
  
"Because just because you can speak a language doesn't mean you can read of write it," Sam said, seeing where he was going with this. "Do you want me to get Andie off the phone?"  
  
Daniel looked up at the clock. "She's still on the phone with Cassie? She called over there about an hour ago!"  
  
Sam nodded, rolling her eyes slightly. "They're watching 'The Simpson's' with Jack. It should be over by now. I'll make her hang up."  
  
A few minutes later, Andie bounded into his office. "Hey. Sam told me you didn't want me running up your phone bill anymore."  
  
He chuckled. "Actually, I wanted to see if you understood written Spanish."  
  
"¿Pero por qué? No necesito leer para mirar Telemundo."  
  
He looked up at her, slightly annoyed. "The world doesn't revolve around Telemundo, you know."  
  
She shrugged. "My world does. What else do I have to do all day but watch TV?" she demanded. She continued to look over the things littering Daniel's desk while he scribbled a few sentences down. She turned one piece of paper so she could see it better. "What's this?"  
  
Daniel looked up to identify the specific thing she was pointing at. "It's everything I don't know about you."  
  
She pointed at the phonetically written lines of script Daniel had been able to read from her back. "It's backwards," she said.  
  
He looked over at her. "What do you mean it's backwards? I haven't translated it yet."  
  
"No. The way you have it written... it should be the other way." She turned the paper so he could she what she meant. "This word right here- ayerdna. It should be andreya."  
  
The realization was obvious in Daniel's face as he took in what she was saying. "Written right to left and not left to right," he muttered to himself. "No wonder it doesn't make any sense."  
  
"How many weeks and you never thought of that?" she asked, mildly amused.  
  
"I've been busy with other translations and ... How did you know that?" he asked her suddenly. "How did you know I had it backwards?"  
  
She shrugged. "I don't know... Masnueva hembra andreya, reproducao de andromache... it didn't make sense the other way."  
  
"Do you know what this means?" Daniel asked, shocked. She shook her head. He smiled, finally able to understand the writings. "It means we can find out who you are."  
  
*******  
  
Author's note: I don't take Spanish dispite the fact I've lived in Arizona my whole life, so if what Andie said (which should be "But why? I don't need to read to watch Telemundo.") is grammatically incorrect, don't yell at me- I don't know any better. Also, the "language" on Andie's back isn't real Spanish or Portuguese. I mixed up words that I liked best from the two languages... because that's how it evolved on Andie's home planet. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 


	13. Andie, Meet Tessa

`  
  
A woman in an immaculately pressed uniform and heels sat behind Jack's desk. "Colonel," she said as he walked through the door. "You know, you have something jammed in your disk drive?"  
  
"Kinsey... why are you checking my disk drive?" he asked in a light tone, kicking her out of his chair.  
  
She moved to sit on the edge of his desk and crossed her legs while brushing her dark bangs out of her eyes. "I hear you have a new little alien friend living at the SGC," she commented lightly. "Well, not so much the SGC as with Maj. Samantha Carter. And you named her Carter, how sweet."  
  
He narrowed his eyes at her. "She won the coin toss. The meeting's not until tomorrow, what do you want?"  
  
"Tom Cruise, but that ain't happenin.' Nope," she sighed. "I'll never get that man. I guess I'll have to settle for your girl's files and medical record."  
  
"So why don't you bother Fraser and Carter?"  
  
She smiled cutely. "'Cause I like bothering you more! And I thought I'd warn you, if Vice President Kinsey finds out anything of interest about your girl, even I'll have a hell of a time keeping her out of a permanently monitored facility." She winked conspiratorially. "I'll be back for the files at 1600. I just had a manicure and I'd hate to ruin my nails on dirty paper."  
  
He smirked after her as she hopped off his desk. "I'll make sure to dust it off for you."  
  
~~~~~~  
  
"Sammie, sweetie-darling!" Tessa called out in a fabulous British accent as she made her way into Sam's lab. "Cooped up in a lab when I'm at Cheyenne Mountain? How very."  
  
"Tessa, light of my life," Sam responded, her voice almost completely devoid of inflection. "How very indeed. How do you keep getting promoted? Do you do any real work?"  
  
She pretended to think. "It depends on your definition of the word real."  
  
Sam laughed. "I like to think I have a pretty loose grasp on the word real. After all, I do have an alien living in my house."  
  
"Yes, you do," she smiled. "Speaking of aliens... where is your girl? I want to meet her."  
  
"Come on, I was just about to see how she's doing with Teal'c," Sam said, ushering Tessa back into the corridor. "Teal'c offered to teach Andie some self-defence... and I just want to make sure he's not treating her like a young Jaffa."  
  
Tessa grinned. "Aren't you turning into the mother hen," she teased. They walked around a corner and Tessa stopped dead in her tracks. "Let's wait here for the next elevator."  
  
Sam looked at Tessa, the amusement clear in his face. "Tess, have you met Maj. Davis?" he asked, highly amused. "You didn't hit him, did you?"  
  
Tessa quickly gave her a look but her gaze returned straight back to the Major. "We met briefly. And I didn't hit him, but... well, let's just say he's not too fond of who I work for. I was still married, so there was no reason for me to apologise to him at the time. It's a shame... he's really cute." Maj. Davis got into an elevator and Tessa continued down the corridor, her contemplative mood disappeared. "So, where is this little girl of yours?"  
  
"You do realise that she's about fifteen... maybe sixteen?" Sam asked as they continued towards the elevator.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Sam and Tessa made it to the work-out room just in time to see Andie fall backwards onto her butt. "Ow! That hurt!" she complained as Teal'c reached down to help her up.  
  
"If you would learn to anticipate your adversary's moves, you would not be knocked to the ground," he told her.  
  
"Sam! Teal'c keeps knocking me down!" she whined.  
  
"A true warrior would not run to their mother when they are bested in sparring," Teal'c informed her.  
  
"Well, I'm not a true warrior!" Andie retorted. "I'm a little girl, and very delicate."  
  
Sam snorted. "If you're delicate, then Teal'c is verbose." Andie gave her a dirty look.  
  
"Who are you?" she demanded, looking over at Tessa.  
  
"Andie!" Sam exclaimed.  
  
"I'm Lt. Col. Tessa Kinsey," she replied evenly.  
  
Andie looked her over carefully. "You don't look like you'd be spawned from the Devil himself. You look kinda nice, not crazy at all."  
  
"Let me guess, Jack?" she asked rhetorically. "But I'll take that as a compliment, all the same."  
  
"Actually, Daniel told me you're crazy," she informed her. "Jack told me to be sweet to you so you'll want to help save me from the evil-Kinsey who Sam says is your dad."  
  
Tessa chuckled. "Kid, I adore you already. And even if I didn't, it's my life's work to mess up anything the Vice President wants to do. Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to harass Daniel," she said with a malicious grin.  
  
"I like her," Andie said as Tessa left to find Daniel.  
  
Sam chuckled. "Most people around here do. And delicate my butt. You get to work, and stop whining."  
  
"Yes, Master," she muttered sarcastically as Sam moved back to watch the progress she and Teal'c had made. 


	14. The Proposition

`  
  
"So, I got a promotion," Tessa said, plopping herself down in Daniel's chair. "And my transfer might actually go through. But that's not my news."  
  
"What's your news?" Daniel asked, not sure he liked the wide smile on her face.  
  
"I'm gonna have a baby, and you're going to be the father."  
  
If he'd been drinking coffee, it'd now be spat all over the room. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"  
  
She jumped up and ran her hands over his shoulders. "I could get some anonymous doner, but then my kids could have any number of weird qualities. If you're the father, not only do I know what my kids might be like, but we also get lots of sex in the mean time."  
  
He back away from her and shook his head. "Tess, this is crazy, you should think over this some more."  
  
"I have thought it over some more!" she protested. "And why are you so hesitant? You have no obligation in any of this, aside from knocking me up at twice in the next three years. I can take care of them myself and you don't have to worry about anything."  
  
"Why the time limit?"  
  
"After that I'll be too old to have kids."  
  
"You'll only be thirty-six!"  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Fine, too old to want to have kids." He continued to shake his head and walked away from her again. "Oh, please?" she begged, climbing up onto his desk. "I have to have two more kids. And I'm not in a relationship, and you're not in a relationship, and I'd ask Jack but I've always had a thing for you."  
  
"What? Why would you ask Jack?"  
  
She shrugged, rolling her eyes at what she could only assume was jealousy. "Jack has a lot of qualities I'd like my children to have. He's smart and funny and good-looking. Plus it'd really piss off the Senator to have his gene-pool contaminated by the person he hates more than anyone else in the world except for me."  
  
"Vice President."  
  
"Whatever. But anyway, he hates you too. And if you'd grow your hair back, I'd never even consider Jack."  
  
"Oh, that makes me feel so much better. A few extra inches of hair that used to be on my head is all that's keeping you from jumping into bed with Jack."  
  
She reached out and let her hands run slowly over his head and into his hair. "Trust me– I don't jump and it won't necessarily be bed."  
  
"Again, that makes me feel so much better."  
  
She sighed, slightly agitated. "Fine, it'd also get Sam pissed at me for probably ever."  
  
"What about Teal'c? Your dad seems like enough of a bigot that he wouldn't like having biracial grandchildren, let alone biterrestrial."  
  
"Let's get back to my attraction to you," she said, leaning closer to his face.  
  
He looked closely at her face and then started laughing. "You're kidding, aren't you?"  
  
She shrugged, smiling wickedly. "Is it that obvious?"  
  
He pulled her hands out of his hair and pushed her back a little. "Would you get off my desk? If you break something, I'll be very put out." She worked her feet around so her could step off in front of Daniel, her skirt sliding very far up her leg to reveal a row of flesh toned lace. "Are you wearing stockings?" he asked, unsure of what the answer and reason would be.  
  
She shrugged, smiling cutely. "Habit I picked up from Sam," she remarked as the door swung open. "Think over my proposal carefully, but don't take too long." She gave him a playful and obvious wink. "I may even show you a few other habits I picked up from Sam–joke or not."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Sam demanded as Tessa slipped out the door. "Daniel? What did she mean?"  
  
"So, wha'd Tessa want?" Jack asked lightly, not at all bothered by her behaviour.  
  
Daniel shook his head slowly. "Oh, she just... asked me to... father her children."  
  
"Oh, good! Something relatively not crazy for a change." Sam suddenly turned on her heels and ran out of the room after Tessa. "Great, now Carter's getting it!" Jack exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "I knew having a Kinsey around here would be bad!"  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Sam ran after Tessa, catching up with her rounded the corner. "What was that about? What were you proposing to Daniel?" Sam demanded in a hiss.  
  
"Well, you know I want more kids," she said as if it should be obvious.  
  
"And you asked Daniel?" she practically shouted.  
  
"Why are you so shocked?" Tessa demanded in return, deciding to turn her little joke around on Sam. "It's not like I asked Jack... again."   
  
Sam's eyes suddenly went wide. "You asked Jack? Why would you ask Jack?"  
  
Tessa smiled, obviously getting a sick pleasure out of Sam's worry. "Yeah, and if Daniel doesn't say yes, I'm still gonna ask him. He seemed sort of interested last time... might finally decide to take me up... or down, you know, whatever."  
  
Sam watched Tessa as she continued walking down the corridor. "Please tell me this is one of your sick little jokes?" she called after her. "Holy Hannah, Tess! What did you tell him that I do?"  
  
*****************  
  
Author's Note: So, I decided to up the rating a tiny bit because Tessa's a little dirty and Andie's language is gonna be a little foul coming up. Nothing too major... maybe some under-age drinking, but that's all. Promise! 


	15. Meeting With Kinsey

`  
  
Jack looked down at his watch. "Andie, as intriguing as watching you fall on you six is," he said as Teal'c helped her up from the practice mat, "we have an unpleasant meeting we need to get to."  
  
"Is Tessa gonna be there? Can I go?" she asked excitedly.  
  
Jack gave Sam a dirty look. "Why did you let her go out to dinner with the spawn of the evil one?" he demanded. Sam's response was to smile innocently.  
  
"I like Tessa," Andie informed him. "She's funny.  
  
Teal'c nodded towards them. "I must prepare myself for the meeting," he said, moving to the door.  
  
Andie ran in front of him and blocked the door. "Ah! What did we talk about? What do you say before you leave a room?" she demanded.  
  
"I will not say it," he said firmly.  
  
"I'm not moving until you say it!" He gave her a withering glare that had reduced the toughest of men, including Kinsey, to quivering piles of Jell-o. But Andie held her ground, a trait she'd picked up from Janet. He mumbled something. "Speak up," she commanded.  
  
"Later bitches," he said, quite reluctantly. Andie promptly moved out of the way and he quickly exited the room.  
  
"Did he just call us bitches?" Jack demanded of Andie. "What are you teaching he?"  
  
She shrugged innocently. "We were just watching 'Chappelle's Show.' Maybe Dave Chappelle's his new idol."  
  
Jack looked like he wanted to respond, but Sam pushed him towards the door. "We don't have time to get into Andie's train of thought right now," she informed him. "Kinsey is waiting. If we're late, he'll be extra unpleasant."  
  
~~~~~~  
  
"So, Dr. Jackson," Kinsey started, his tone almost pleasant. "What's this about you wanting to waste more money on this wild goose chase?"  
  
"It's hardly a wild goose chase," Daniel muttered unhappily.  
  
Tessa passed some files around the table. "We're here to discuss the status of Andie's residency," she said, mostly to remind the elder Kinsey. "To determine whether or not she's going to pass a new strain of small pox off to the planet, etcetera, etcetera. And if I may put in my two cent–"  
  
"Oh, you're asking permission now?" Kinsey cut in. "How very out of character."  
  
The streaming hatred in Tessa's eyes screamed, "You stupid old man! The President likes me a hell of a lot more than you! I would get a pardon in a second if I slit your throat!" but her lips said, "She hasn't given anyone a new strain of sickness so far, so I really can't see the point in this. Other than formality's sake," she added only slightly sarcastically.  
  
"And your two cents don't mean much, seeing as you're not a doctor of medicine," he shot back at her.  
  
At this Janet cleared her throat and leaned forward.. "I've been monitoring Andie's health very closely for the past three months," she informed them. "And aside from her odd need for diet soda, she's always been in perfect health. A few weeks ago, I tried to innoculate her for the measles and other childhood diseases." She paused and took a deep breath. "I watched her closely to see if she'd have any reaction, and she didn't. None at all, in fact. Her blood continues to look like I never gave her any inoculations; TB, small pox, meningitis... it all disappears from her blood."  
  
"Do you mean she could have any number of diseases hidden in her blood?" Kinsey wondered pointedly.  
  
She shook her head quickly. "On the contrary. Her blood is completely clean. I would bet Andie's never been sick a day in her life. She has a better immune system than a Jaffa."  
  
"Hm, I don't understand this," Kinsey said, pointing to part of the file. "It says here that the girl is 87 lbs? Isn't that extremely low?"  
  
Janet nodded. "Normally, I would agree with you. It is low, even for being five foot two. Andie is tiny but... very nicely filled out. I can see no reason for her weight to be so low, especially with the amount of food she eats."  
  
"What do you think it could be?" Tessa asked slowly.  
  
"Honestly? If I had to guess, I'd say her bones were hollow," Janet said lightly. Everyone around the table laughed at the seemingly absurd thought, but Janet and Sam knew that the theory could very well be correct.  
  
"And what about her eyes? The Colonel reported that they glowed?" Kinsey pressed.  
  
Janet nodded. "I have no idea, I haven't seen them glow since. I think it might have been a reflex when the lights went out... Col. O'Neill said it was more like a cat then a Goa'uld, so maybe a type of night-vision, but I haven't seen any signs of it since."  
  
"That's all well and good, but what if she's just another of the Gould traps you seem to be so good at finding." Sam shot him a dirty look before she could stop herself.  
  
"What about the translations?" Tessa asked, moving the meeting forward. "What have you discovered about her through these, Dr. Jackson?"  
  
"Quite a but, actually." Daniel stood up and the projection changed to an enlargement of Andie's tattoo. "The writing translates to 'Newest girl Andreya, Reproduction of Andromache. Ninth attempt of the Lost Sacred One.'"  
  
"But what does it mean?" Kinsey demanded.  
  
"It means that Andie is the ninth daughter or child of a woman called Andromache," Daniel said, almost patiently. "Andromache seems to be a religious and political figure to her people, and this standing and ideology would be passed onto her children. The next lines states 'This Innocent will be the Leader and Saviour of her people in the place of the Lost.' And here 'Lost' seems to be plural."  
  
Before Kinsey could once again demand the meaning, Sam spoke up. "We think that Andie's entire family may have carried markings like these as sort of proof of lineage... to prove that she's the rightful heir in case her whole family was killed."  
  
"If she's so important to her people, why was she abandoned on the Nox' planet?" he demanded.  
  
Jack rolled her eyes discreetly. "It's possible Andromache was supposed to save the people from the Goa'uld and when she couldn't, Andie was dropped on a near-by planet to be kept safe. And since she was the only one there, it's probable that she's be the only survivor."  
  
"And if that's the case," Gen. Hammond broke in, "then she's a political refugee."  
  
"Do you have any idea where her home planet might be?" Tessa asked.  
  
Daniel nodded. "I think it may be P3C-423. SG-11 went back to the planet after we returned and they said that they found evidence that the vast majority of the population lived underground... even though they couldn't figure out the way to get in."  
  
Kinsey gave him a disapproving look. "If you can't prove anything, how do you know for sure?"  
  
Smiling slightly, Daniel brought up the next slide. "Actually... I can prove it. Do you see that second to last row? It's six symbols, six numbers."  
  
"It's a Gate address," Tessa said quietly. "They marked her with a return address in case she ever wandered away from home."  
  
"Now, the numbers corelate with the address to P3C-423. I think that we will be able to find a way into the underground complex if Andie returns to the planet with us."  
  
Now, Kinsey was appearing to get very angry. "What for? The girl has no memory previous to walking through the Stargate on this planet. What use could she be?"  
  
"Actually, she seems to be able to recall things when she's brought into contact with something familiar, or unfamiliar like the sky," Sam broke in. At the confused looks, she explained, "The first time we took Andie outside, she was amazed by the sky. She knew she'd never seen one before, but she couldn't explain why. She could have lived underground her whole life, especially if there are extensive tunnel systems. I think going to her home planet might restore the memories she lost."  
  
Jack rolled his eyes. "And if the planet's uninhabited, it might be a good way of finding technology," he added.  
  
Kinsey perked up slightly at the mention of technology. "Perhaps it would be advantageous to take this girl back to her home planet for a time," he agreed. "That is, of course, if Gen. Hammond feels this a wise course of action." Everyone around the table not involved with NID discreetly rolled their eyes. 


	16. Embarking with the Unwilling

`  
  
"Aw! Do I have to?" she whined.  
  
"Don't you want to find out what your life was like?" Daniel demanded.  
  
"No!" He gave her a look. "What?" she demanded. "And miss my stories on Telemundo? They never, ever replay them! I might have a heart attack and die. Would you really do that to me?"  
  
Sam and Teal'c walked into Andie's quarters with the things she'd need while they were gone. Sam shoved them into her arms and Teal'c set his pile onto the table next to the door. "What are you complaining about now?" she demanded, her hands firmly on her hips.  
  
"She doesn't want to miss any of her Spanish soap operas," Daniel explained, rather annoyed. Sam raised a questioning eyebrow in Andie's direction.  
  
"He's over-simplifying it!" she protested. Sam looked over at Daniel who shook his head discreetly then looked back at Andie. "Okay, fine!" she snapped. "Maybe I just don't want to go there. What's so wrong with that?"  
  
Sam sighed. "We'll go shoe shopping when we get back," she offered.  
  
Andie quickly deposited her arm-load of gear onto the bed. "Well, what are we standing around here for?" she demanded. "We have a mission to prepare for!"  
  
Teal'c smiled slightly and moved to leave the room, but Andie blocked the door. "Aren't you going to tell everyone good-bye?" Teal'c looked at her for a moment and then grabbed her by the waist and picked her up, moving her so she was no longer between himself and the door. "Hey! We had a discussion about why it's not nice to pick me up and move me!" she yelled afer him. "I'm going to be very annoyed if this happens again! It's just plain rude!"  
  
Daniel and Sam shook their heads as they left the room as well. "You know, you really shouldn't bribe her with shoes every time you want to get her to do something," Daniel said, laughing at the situation.  
  
Sam shrugged. "Trust me, bribing her with a pair of twenty dollar heels at Payless is easier than spending three hours getting nowhere talking to her."  
  
"Man, she really is a teenager, isn't she?" Daniel laughed.  
  
"With a potentially very expensive show fetish..." She looked over at Daniel who was giving her a questioning eyebrow. "She discovered Jimmy Chou on-line and is now desperate for a pair... or ten."  
  
~~~~~  
  
"Chevron seven is locked."  
  
Andie watched with wide, frightened eyes as the event horizon opened. Jack took a step towards the ramp. "Alright, kids. Let's move out," he called out.  
  
Sam looked back when Andie didn't advance with them. "Aren't you coming?" she laughed.  
  
She started to shake her head, her eyes glued to the active Gate. "No way."  
  
Jack stopped before getting to the ramp and looked back. "Come on!" he urged. "It's a piece of cake."  
  
She continued to stare at the Gate, shaking her head. "No. I'm not going through."  
  
"Colonel O'Neill, is there a problem?" Gen. Hammond asked over the speaker.  
  
Jack looked up at the control room. "No, sir. Just a bit jittery. Teal'c?" He motioned for Teal'c to go back down to where Andie was planted. "Retrieve the mini-pain, if you'd be so kind."   
  
She finally looked away from the Gate when Teal'c moved to pick her up. "If you're going to be that way, fine!" she snapped, moving towards the event horizon. "And I want two pairs, no questions asked," she said as she passed Sam.  
  
Jack gave Sam a look; she replied with a helpless shrug. "It's... Shoes," she said finally.  
  
"Ah," Jack said nodding. "Bribery. Sweet." 


	17. The Secret Underground Lair of Dr Crazy

Andie stepped out of the Gate just ahead of the rest of SG-1. "Oh, that's cold!" she exclaimed and she walked out into the sunlight. She looked quickly around at their surrounding and shrugged. "Okay, nothings here. Let's go," she said the second everyone stepped away from the Gate.  
  
Sam laughed and grabbed Andie's hand. "Come on! You like exploring places you know you shouldn't be. Why not try someplace you're aloud to snoop around?" She looked down at the apprehensive look on Andie's face, and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Tell you what. The sooner we get done here, the sooner we're gone."  
  
"Promise?" Andie asked, looking up at her. "Because I don't like it here."  
  
Sam nodded once. "Promise."  
  
Sighing, Andie looked over to the side of the Gate, opposite the DHD. A device appeared out of nowhere. Daniel stared open-mouthed and smacked Jack to get his attention.  
  
"What is it now?" Jack demanded, before noticing the thing Andie was walking towards. "Woah!" he exclaimed. "Carter? What the hell just happened?"  
  
She shrugged, her mouth hanging open similarly to Daniel's.  
  
"It was here the whole time," Andie informed them, as if they were the one's acting strangely. She pushed a sequence of symbols and waved them all over. "It won't work if you're too far away," she said when they hesitated.  
  
They walked over to where Andie had indicated the should stand. A moment later, they found themselves in a fairly empty, windowless room.  
  
"I'm just guessing that was the way in," Jack said, looking around.  
  
"So, we're under the Stargate now?" Sam asked, unsurely.  
  
Daniel shook her head and pointed up at the ceiling. "We're under the forest."  
  
"How can you tell?" Jack asked.  
  
"The ceiling is made of roots," he said simply.  
  
Teal'c looked over at Andie, who did not seem glad to be inside. "How were you aware this was here?" he asked.  
  
She shrugged. "Dunno, don't care. Are we done here yet?"  
  
"Don't you remember anything?" Sam asked, more worried than curious.   
  
Andie seemed to ignore her as she looked around the open gray room. "I don't like it here," she said again.  
  
Jack squeazed her shoulder. "Don't worry, we won't be here too long," he assured her. "And anyway, it's clear the crazy scientists are long gone." Sam and Andie both gave him identical questioning eyebrows. "What?" Jack demanded. "Obviously this is the secret underground lair of Dr.... Crazy."  
  
"There does not appear to be any inhabitants in this facility," Teal'c said looking around. "But it is very clean."  
  
Sam nodded. "It's like they either just left or don't have dust."  
  
"Well, it is empty," Daniel agreed. "And that looks like a lab through there."  
  
Jack nodded. "Alright. Daniel, Carter, check out the lab. Teal'c, Andie, and I'll go... that way," he said waving towards the other passageway. "Radio if you find anything, and be on your guard. It looks empty but so did the Nox planet."  
  
"Yes, sir," Sam said, as they all went in the directions they were told to.  
  
*******  
  
Author's Note: Things are going to start happening soon, I promise. In the next chapter we find out some really "fun" stuff about Andie. 


	18. The Mistake

`  
  
The lab Sam and Daniel found was just as clean as the rest of the facility. And just like the main room, it was practically empty of all furniture, technology, and basically all sign of life.  
  
Sam ran her finger along the top of the long metal table in the centre of the room. "It's like someone just cleaned in here," she commented quietly. "I wish my house stayed the clean when I'm off-world."  
  
Daniel chuckled as he started to look over the room. "You're house wouldn't get so dusty if you'd go home every so often." She rolled her eyes without saying anything and walked around the table to start looking over the other side of the lab. "It's like the stripped the whole place of anything remotely useful," he muttered.  
  
"Daniel," Sam called, looking at a shelf holding a row of books. "What do these say?"  
  
Daniel held up his flashlight to see the writing on the spines. "The Sixth, The Seventh," he muttered, translating out-loud. He pulled the last in the rows off of the shelf and opened in up. "It looks like a complete, detailed medical history... daily activities, things she's said..." He looked up at Sam. "They must have kept records like for Andie and all of her siblings. She lived down her for her own protection, apparently."  
  
Sam nodded slowly. "Protection from what?"  
  
"From Apophis," he said slowly translating some of the lines. "It seems he attacked the planet eighty years ago and then Anubis came back a few months ago looking for something."  
  
"Looking for what?" Sam asked, pulling the books off of the shelf and storing them in her bag. "An empty, underground lair?"  
  
"It was only emptied a few months ago," Daniel pointed out, flipping through the pages. "There are some strange references in here. The Sky People, the Ones Away..."  
  
The symbol on the front of one of the books caught her attention. "Funny. This is the same symbol as the necklace Andie always wears."  
  
Daniel seemed to ignore what she'd said. "Listen to this, 'I believe we've finally figured out how to combine the two minds without causing permanent damage or insanity. For now, The Ninth lives as normally within the Compound, but she will soon be fully replaced with Andromache.'"  
  
Sam looked at him curiously. "I don't like the sound of that. Does it explain what they mean?"  
  
Daniel shrugged. "I'm not quite sure... there's a break in the writing and then it begins with this–'Anubis, the ancient enemy of Bastet, has returned the City and it's only a matter of time before he finds the Compound. We placed the ancient knowledge in the safest place possible– in The Ninth's mind. It was decided she would be left on an unspecified planet to be kept out of the Gou'ald's hands. To be sure she isn't used as a tool of the Enemy, I took it upon myself to push the contents of her memory out of her reach. In the process I fear I may have damaged her eyes, though not permanently... may she recover and return our Ancient knowledge to us. As it is, we will begin the creation process once again, in a place we won't be found this time.'" He snorted and let the book drop down in his hands as he realised his mistake. "It didn't say of... it said at."  
  
Sam looked over his shoulder. "What do you mean, at?"  
  
"Andie isn't the daughter of this religious figure... she's the replacement. The genetic replacement."  
  
"Like a clone?"  
  
"No, not quite.... she'd fabricated. Sort of like Charlie, but not for near as noble a cause. They created her DNA to match Andromache's and they were going to put her consciousness in Andie's body."  
  
"Oh my god." Sam suddenly looked off down the corridor. "Do you hear singing?"  
  
Daniel looked up towards his left. He reached over and smacked Sam's arm to get her attention. "Um, Sam?"  
  
Walked towards them was a young woman in a dress similar to the one Andie'd been wearing when the Nox left her on Earth. Aside from her bobbed hair, she looked identical to Andie. 


	19. Andreya's Room

  
  
Jack walked passed what looked like another section of wall and it slid open. He looked carefully inside. "Looks like we found something," he commented, stepping slowly inside. He moved his flashlight around the walls while Teal'c just looked at the objects in the dark.  
  
Andie passed her hand over a panel just inside the door. The lights in the room came up, though it was unclear from where.  
  
"And then there was light," Jack commented, storing his flashlight.  
  
"Do you remember this place, Andie Carter?" Teal'c asked.  
  
She gave him a raised eyebrow. "It's just a light switch, nothing too complicated."  
  
"Right," Jack said, moving to look around the room. Andie started around the room in the opposite direction with Teal'c not too far behind her.  
  
Andie ran her fingers over a shelf covered in little toys and boxes. "This was my room," she sad quietly. "These things were all mine." She picked up a small, circular, enamelled green and gold box. "I should know these things."  
  
"Hey, look at this." She and Teal'c looked over to where Jack was standing beside a now open cupboard. Without thinking, Andie dropped the box into her pocket. Jack held up an object. "It looks like a guitar."  
  
Andie took the instrument gently out of his hands. "I taught myself how to play."  
  
"Are you that talented?" Jack asked, not sure what else to say.  
  
"No," she said easily. "I had a lot of free time."  
  
She walked across the floor and tapped her heel in a certain spot. A chair appeared out of the wall and Andie sat down on it.  
  
Jack looked back and forth from the wall to the chair and finally to Teal'c. "How many more things in this place are going to do that?" he demanded.  
  
The lights flickered, going out for a second. Andie jumped to her feet, screaming slightly, the instrument in her lap clattering to the ground. "We need to leave," she said suddenly. "The power's going to go out again. I can't stay here in the dark." The lights flickered again and Andie jumped three feet in the air.  
  
"Okay," Jack said slowly. "Let's find Carter and Daniel before the power goes out."  
  
Andie fell to her knees, holding her head in pain. Jack hurried over to her. "Ann? Is something wrong?" Instead of responding, Andie began singing what Jack thought was childish gibberish.  
  
Teal'c turned to Jack. "O'Neill. I have heard this song before. It was eighty years ago after Apophis concurred a world belonging to a race of advanced people. One woman sang this song in sorrow of the death of their planet's saviour."  
  
Jack looked for Teal'c to Andie who screamed as the lights went out. She opened her eyes a second later, and they were glowing bright blue.  
  
"Meus denos da cabeza. Nos no devemos estar aqui," she said, pushing herself to feet.  
  
Jack and Teal'c looked at each other and then at Andie. "What did you say?"  
  
"Por que voce esta actuando estrnho?" she demanded. "Pressa acima! Nos no devemos estar aqui!"  
  
The watched as Andie hurried out of the room. "She was just speaking another language, right?" Jack demanded as they followed her.  
  
"Indeed."  
  
"Just making sure."  
  
  
  
WHAT ANDIE SAYS:  
  
My head hurts. We shouldn't be here.  
  
Why are you acting so strange? Hurry up. We shouldn't be here!  
  
  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry for the delay. Home for summer and have a slow connection. 


	20. Psyche

"It's the air filters," the young woman said.  
  
Sam and Daniel exchanged a look. "Excuse me?" Sam asked.  
  
She smiled, the friendliness in her smile not quite reaching her eyes. "The air filters. They're designed to capture all of the dust in the air. That's why it's so clean," she explained.  
  
Daniel took a step closer to her. "Hi... I'm Daniel Jackson, this is Maj. Samantha Carter. Who are you?" he asked slowly.  
  
She bowed her head slightly. "I am Eloctava," she said politely. "I believe you were accompanied by Elnovena?"  
  
"She means 'The Ninth,'" Daniel explained to Sam. "She said she's The Eighth."  
  
Sam nodded. "Yes... we just call her Andie."  
  
"You know her Renaming?" she asked, slightly amused. "If you know Andreya's Renaming, then please, refer to me by mine. I am Psyche."  
  
"So... are you here looking for the others?" Daniel asked slowly.  
  
She laughed lightly, her right hand which had been hidden behind her back dropping down to her side. "No! I'm here to kill Andreya!" she said, all friendliness leaving her smile. Her voice dropped to the resonating Gould pitch. "Tremble before the servant of the all-powerful god Anubis!" she commanded, raising a ribbon device towards them.  
  
Sam couldn't help smirking. "You're not a host. You can't make that work."  
  
"Bitch! Ruin my fun!" she muttered. The jewel in Psyche's palm glowed and connected with Sam, forcing her to her knees. "Pathetic Tau'ri. You know nothing of what we are capable of."  
  
Daniel raised his gun. "Stop!" he yelled at her. She turned and smirked at him, the device's hold still on Sam. "I'm warning you!"  
  
She laughed and let the device shut off, her mood abruptly changing. "Warning me? How very droll." She shrugged, her voice returned to normal. "Go on then. Shoot me."  
  
Sam gasped to catch her breath and pulled her own gun and fired a single shot at her. The bullet stopped three inches away from her heart and remained in the air. Psyche clucked and shook her head admonishingly. "You've tried and failed to stop me. I do hope you will have learned your lesson, children."  
  
"Clearly, we've never met," Daniel muttered.  
  
"Where is Andreya?" she demanded, raising the ribbon device once again.  
  
At that moment, Andie ran into the room, closely followed by Jack and Teal'c. Instantly taking in the situation, they both raised their weapons. "Psyche, pareo!" Andie snapped.  
  
She smirked. "The old language? So, you remember. I knew those half-wits who created us couldn't lock it away forever." Andie started to say something, but she stumbled over everything in her head for a moment. Psyche pursed her lips in false sympathy. "Hurts, doesn't it? Knowing all of the others are dead or crazy. And you were about to become just another failed attempt." Andie glared at her and she giggled. "And who's to say you're not already? They tweaked every new batch like we were sopaipilla recipes. Some of us were just made wrong."  
  
"Like you?" she demanded.  
  
"Oooh! Wittle nine has a spine!" she taunted."We are the same, my dear. And insanity runs in the family." She winked and raised her right hand. "How much of a masochist are you? Because I know I have quite a tolerance to pain!" She suddenly pulled her hand back. "Wait... you know everything. Hm. Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back!" She tapped a jewel on the bracelet on her left hand and was (assumingly) transported back to her ship.  
  
The members of SG-1 exchanged confused looks. "What the hell just happened?" Jack demanded. "Carter can you get us out of her before Psycho-bitch comes back?"  
  
She shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know where she went. It's a bit hard to judge." As they spoke, Andie's eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed.  
  
"Oh, for cryin' out loud!" Jack yelled. "What else is going to happen?"  
  
"Don't say that!" Daniel snapped. "This whole place could collapse on our heads with our luck!"  
  
  
  
Fake language lesson: Pareo means "Stop!"  
  
Also, sorry it's taken so long to get this. The creative part of my mind stopped working. But it's getting better. Sort of. 


	21. Waking Nightmares

He was hallucinating. He felt like he had walked in on the Spanish Inquisition. It was bloody and rancid, a torture scene. It was like cheesy movie sequence.  
  
Or a dream he could turn off. A very real dream. The smell of blood was thick in the air. Everything seemed to be tinted red. Nothing looked real. He could swear he saw corpses everywhere.  
  
He couldn't block the screams any more. He must hallucinating. The screams were so real, so close. He could feel them resonating in his ear drum.  
  
Was he hallucinating?  
  
Why had he suddenly gone insane?  
  
_You are not insane_, he heard somewhere beyond the screaming.  
  
Why was that not comforting?  
  
_Because you do not want it to be. You cannot protect the girl if you do not know why the others went insane_.  
  
They were supposed to protect her from her own mind? That was just a little on the impossible side.  
  
_If you don't interfere, it's not!  
_  
"Dr. Jackson!" Gen. Hammond's bark jerked him back into reality. Daniel looked up to see SG-1, Gen. Hammond, and Janet staring at him. "Do you have anything to add?" he asked, much more calmly.  
  
He shook his head slowly. "No. I don't."  
  
"Then, dismissed."  
  
Sam hurried after Daniel as they left the debriefing room. "What was that all about?" she asked. "You're not usually the one who drifts off."  
  
"You know those dreams?" he started slowly.  
  
She nodded emphatically. "Had one the night before the mission. Why?"  
  
"I just had one, and it told me not to interfere."  
  
"Interfere with what?"  
  
"I have no idea." He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Is Andie awake yet?"  
  
Sam shook her head, her expression surprisingly maternal. "No. But Janet says not to worry. Besides, there's nothing we can do."  
  
"Aside from not interfere," Daniel reminded her.  
  
She laughed despite of herself. "Whatever that means." 


	22. All Better?

Andie slept for three days after the mission. She slept as if dead, but Janet assured Sam that her brain activity was that of someone in a light slumber.  
  
When she finally woke up, she wore the same wide-eyed expression of unfamiliarity she'd had when the Nox had first left her at the SGC. Janet had "firmly suggested" that Sam otherwise occupy herself while Janet ran some tests.  
  
Jack found her in her lab, tracing her fingers over the cover of a book Andie had left on her work table. "_In the Hands of the Goddess_? Are you trying out a new religion?" he inquired.  
  
She smiled and shook her head. "It's a book about a girl who's trying to become a knight. Andie's really into it."  
  
He reached over and took the book out of her hands. "You don't need to be so worried about her," he said gently. "She's a resilient kid. She'll be bugging you for more shoes before you know it."  
  
Sam smiled and started to say something, but her phone rang and she pounced on it. "Carter... Yeah, I'll be right there."  
  
"The Doc?" Jack asked as he followed her out into the corridor.  
  
"No, the General."  
  
"So, something's broken?"  
  
"Ha ha," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"How is she?" Sam asked, finding Janet in her office.  
  
"I was just about to come find you, she's in her quarters," Janet said, getting up from her desk. "You're looking quite happy."  
  
Sam nodded. "We just got a message from the Tok'ra. My dad got home from his mission in close to one piece. He's coming to visit in a week or two."  
  
"That's great!"  
  
She nodded again. "What's the matter?" she asked, noticing something in Janet's face. "Is she freaking about because she remembers her past?"  
  
"I almost wish she would," Janet said, trying to sound less worried than she really was. "Since she's woken-up, she's asked nonstop questions about what things are–like tongue depressors and bras," Janet told Sam as they walked through the corridor to Andie's on-base quarters. "She then spent ten minutes turning a faucet on and off."  
  
Sam looked over at Janet. "Andie would do that," she pointed out. "And then she'd take the faucet apart, searching for the magical tiny elves who run the water factory."  
  
Nodding and rolling her eyes Janet said, "Yes, granted she's not the world's most stable child, but I don't think it's Andie."  
  
"What do you mean, it's not Andie?"  
  
Janet shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted. "It's almost indescribable– she acts just like she did before you left, extreme curiosity aside. If what she went through was so traumatic, this is very odd. Well... why don't you just see for yourself."  
  
Andie looked up as Sam entered the room. She smiled, her normally blue eyes sparkling green. "This language sounds like the one from Pardina," she said. "Telemundo. It's funny– all these women are cheating on all of the men and then men are crying and one of the ladies fell down the stairs."  
  
"Yeah, they're called soap operas. Are you okay?" Sam asked slowly.  
  
She nodded. "She will be, I just need to let her rest for a little while longer."  
  
"What?"  
  
She nodded. "Honestly, she'll be just fine. Her mind can handle this, but she should have been introduced to all of this much more slowly. I never liked Psyche... she's insane."  
  
"Yeah... we noticed," Sam said slowly. "If you'll excuse me for a moment," she said, backing slowly out of the room. In the hallway, Janet waited on the other side of the door. Sam shook her head. "Call General Hammond. We may have a situation on our hands."  
  
  
  
Author's Note: "In the Hand of the Goddess" is a book by Tamora Pierce and therefore not mine, but I do own a copy and absolutely love every Tortall book the radiant Ms. Pierce has written. 


	23. Who's that lady?

Sam watched the monitors to Andie's quarters. It looked the same as it always did: the bed unmade, stacks of borrowed DVDs near the TV, books of assorted topics neatly on a shelf, a blankets she had insisted on having after watching all of the old Charlie Brown cartoons, and a fifty dollar teddy bear Jack had bought when he took her into a toy store in a fit of madness.

The only thing really wrong was Andie herself. Most people wouldn't have noticed the eccentric young woman was acting any differently, but all of SG-1 could. There were little clues they had picked up on—such as her claiming to be someone else, her eyes were a different colour, and refused to open a door for herself—but what really gave it away was how she was reading.

On any normal day, Andie read on her back with her feet in the air and twisted around every five minutes to find a more comfortable position. _This_ imposter had sat perfectly still in a chair, with her feet flat on the ground, for the better part of three hours.

"There is nothing physically wrong with her!" Janet insisted. "Every scan and test came back normal—for _Andie_. Bizarre for the rest of the world, but fine for her."

"There has to be something!" Daniel countered, on the verge of pulling his hair out. "That's not her! You don't just suddenly start acting like someone else without a reason."

"Maybe she knows the reason," Sam said quietly. Everyone turned to stare at her. She hadn't spoken since she informed Gen. Hammond something was wrong. "Did anyone bother to ask her?"

>>>>>

The girl looked up when Sam, Jack, Daniel, Janet, and Teal'c entered the room. She smiled serenely and set her book aside. "I was wondering when you would finally show up. First the tests, then the talking, is that how it usually goes?"

They exchanged looks before Daniel dared to ask the question, "Where's Andie?"

She chuckled, something in the heartlessness of it striking them. "Oh, she's still here," she said, tapping the side of her head. "She just needs a rest after the shock you gave her."

"We gave her?!" Sam demanded, held back in place by Teal'c.

"Who are you?" Jack demanded. She smiled again and touched the necklace that Andie always wore around her neck.

Daniel shook his head in confusion. "Bastet? How can you be her?"

Teal'c's eyes narrowed as he watched her. "Bastet was killed by Anubis nearly three thousand years ago."

She grinned evilly. "Well, I managed to hang on."


	24. Can So Always Get What You Want

Someone knocked on the door and Bastet slapped her hands with a smile. "Oh, good. I was getting so thirsty."

Daniel took the tray from the airman and looked at the glass and pitcher suspiciously. "This looks like water," he said, placing the tray on a table.

"That's because it is water," she retorted, pouring herself a tall glass. "Honestly, I would have thought you to have better deductive reasoning skills, Daniel." They all watched her curiously as she drank. As she poured a second glass, without looking at them, she said, "Her aversion to water has nothing to with her physicality, you know. It's all mental. And really, that's all that you're girl _is_. She wasn't born naturally, and this isn't really _her_ body."

She looked up just before taking a drink and noticed the glares on everyone's faces. She smiled lightly and downed the glass. "Is your General-leader not going to join us?" Bastet asked easily, glancing around at the group. "I would imagine this to be something of interest for him."

Sam glared at her. "He's on a conference call with the President—about you, actually."

She nodded, her lips puckered thoughtfully. "Yes, _president_. I'm familiar with this term. It refers to your ruling god?"

"Not even," Jack snapped in annoyance.

She turned her eyes to him, mischief sparkling in her smile. "I was joking, but it's always good to see your attitude coming in." She looked around the room carefully, and then in a graceful movement, she stood up and turned her back to them. She sighed dramatically. "So many of you! It's so unfair, you ganging up on me this way. I only want to speak with Daniel. The rest of you are free to leave."

Teal'c stepped up to stand in front of the group. "Dead false gods have no power here."

She glanced back over her shoulder to look at him. "Sorry to disappoint, but I have quite a bit of power, and every stitch of it comes from this little girl here." The mischief glinted in her expression, but only Daniel knew her real meaning. And he suspected Bastet knew far more about Andie's capabilities then he did.

"I'll talk to her alone," he broke in, much to the surprise of the others. He looked around at their faces and nodded grimly. "I'll be fine. Go on." Once the door had closed, he turned on Bastet, seemingly much to her pleasure. "Alright, what do you want? I mean, _really_?"

She smiled broadly at this. "Oh, this will be such _fun_!"

Author's Note: This has taken me forever to get out because of THREE computer meltdowns, mountains of homework, and I've decided I don't like the parts I have writen out. (Plus they don't fit with the pieces I wrote when my computer was being spiteful and wicked.) Next chapter should be soon and informative.


	25. How to Win an Argument: Rule 1 Always Mo...

He looked at her suspiciously. "Why is this going to be fun? You're not going to… do anything to me, are you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course not. This body is far too small to do anything that fun."

"Why do I feel both releaved and dirty?"

She giggled. "My last host had that affect on people as well." Before Daniel could protest at her choice of words, she said, "Now, do you want to ask me anything, or not? Because we could argue semantics all day and night and you would still be pissy." When he still hesitated she sat down primly. "Fine. I'll get us started by asking myself a question. Why have you decided to share your sparkling and awe-inspiring presence with those who clearly don't deserve you're overly-generous help? Well, that is indescribably rude and I will not answer. But you sure do need it, don't you?" She turned an stern eye to Daniel. "Now, will you continue, or must I interrogate myself further?"

"Are you in league with Anubis?"

She snorted in disgust. "Anubis is my most abhorred enemy! Don't think for a moment that I would lower myself to his petty agenda."

"He wants to rule the _galaxy_." She shrugged dismissingly. "You know, you don't seem very Gould-like, if it's not to bold to say."

She shrugged again. "Call it a character flaw. I've been around the Ascended and _you _people too long."

"Didn't seem to affect Anubis much."

"And are we _not _bitter enemies?" She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. "And Andie's personality is influencing me."

"Really?"

She sneered, for a moment looking very Gould-like. "Just a little."

Unable to help himself, Daniel cooed, "Aw! You're just a big softy, aren't ya?"

"A softy who can throw you across the room without touching you," she replied, smiling sweetly. "Shall we try it? Test and see which of us is _softer_?"


	26. Rule 2 Save the Bad News

"What do you care?" he demanded.

She turned and gave him a cold look. "As it happens, I _like_ this one," she said easily. "She's fun. And after all, Pysche's insane, Medea's just too maternal, and, well," she said with a wicked grin, "some of them just attract too much _attention_, don't they?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing you need concern yourself with. Not yet, anyway. The Others are quite capable. You be more concerned with letting this little girl heal herself."

"Heal herself?" Daniel repeated incredulously. "You're controlling her mind!"

A serious, almost worried look passed over her face. "Oh, no, dear," she said quietly. "I'm not controlling her mind. That isn't me at all." She stepped over to stand in front of him and pulled his chin down so that he was looking at her. "Whatever you think of me, rest assured that I am selfish and evasive. So, it's difficult but necessary that I be blunt now."

Daniel snorted. "Right. You'll just come out and say it," he muttered.

"You _know_ it's impossible for two minds to inhabit a body indefinitely," she continued, ignoring him. "And your girl's mind was created to be replaced. She is a _shell_. She isn't strong enough to fight off Andromache on her own."

"She seems to have done fine so far," he pointed out easily.

"That was before you broke the barrier," she retorted. "Andromache's will to survive is unimaginable- she is power and consciousness without a soul. If you stand in her way, she will think nothing of getting rid of you."

"Like a Goa'uld?'

"Worse because her power comes from herself."  
"And what about that floating girl who keeps yelling at me?"

She smiled thinnly. "I must take responsibility for her. The girls' actual soul cannot rest or move on until no others exist. I wrongly gave her some free rein because she was annoying the hell out of me. And I know you're thinking that I'm lying and that Andromache isn't as bad as I keep saying, but you have no idea how bad these copies go when they're left to go bad."

"How bad?"

"Have you met Baal and Nirrti?" He nodded slowly. "Combine them and you're almost there."

"How do you know?"

She sighed and sank regally down into the chair. "I _have _spent too much time with them."

"What are you talking about?"

"If you immediately know the candle light is fire, then the meal was cooked long ago."

Daniel sat down on the edge of the bed. "You sound like you understand that."

She nodded. "I do. And I must warn you this is where the story becomes unpleasant for you."

He snorted. "Because it's all sunshine and giggles now."

"This is worse. Particularly since it appears you and your friends view this shell as family." Daniel glared and she nodded grimly. "Which is excalty why you feel you _must_ know."

"Spit it out already."

With a steady gaze she said, "Andreya does not have a soul."


	27. Rule 3 Make a Dramatic Exit

"You think she does, but she does _not_. Not as you know it," she said harshly when Daniel rose to his feet in furious protest. "The moment her consciousness is gone from this shell, she will cease to exist in all forms."

Before for Daniel could think of something to counter her assertion, her looked at her resolute expression and was taken aback by something on her face. "Are you crying?"

She wiped the tear off her face and stared at it in mild confusion. "I had forgotten how your race feels things so deeply. I rather dislike it." She looked back at him, her eyes perfectly dry. "They learned their lesson the last time they gave a shell a will as Andromache had one. The shell's personality fought for control and _won_. This one could not win as it was."

"As she was? What do you mean?"

"You made her a person. By finding a way to keep the barrier intact for so long, the shell has its own personality and desire to survive. But it is a spark on the wind compared to what it is up against."

"Stop saying it," Daniel broke in harshly.

A cruel smirk passed over her features. "You do not comprehend what I am trying to tell you," she muttered. "This body and what you think to inhabit it are not real. They do not possess true gender or identity. Earth may suffer the consequences of believing otherwise."

Bastet stood quickly, her visible spirit separating from Andie's body which for the time being sat up of its own accord. Daniel was shocked to note the imposing difference between the two of them. In a low, velvety voice, Bastet said, "I would offer you a word of hope in this futile endeavor, but that would be false hope, and that's just _wrong_."

Before Daniel could respond, Bastet disappeared and Andie's body fell forward to the floor. He caught her and helped her back up onto the bed.

A shaking hand clutched at his sleeve. "Don't leave me alone with her," she begged in a pathetic whisper. "Don't leave…"

Sam rushed into the room and Andie threw her arms around her when she took Daniel's place at her side. "You're going to be fine," Sam assured her, her tone absolute. "Nothing is going to happen to you."

"I know," Andie said in a stronger voice, the tremor leaving her hands. Daniel felt a chill run through his body when her eyes locked with his. Her eyes seemed cold and distant. "I'm safe here."


	28. It Begins

Daniel's nightmares grew steadily worse over the next few days, and by the end of the week he dreaded the thought of sleep. Jack and Sam didn't seem disturbed by any visions, if anything they seemed more animated in their interactions with her. He kept what he hoped were unreasonable fears to himself, but he couldn't help but notice that Teal'c seemed less and less inclined to visit the girl. The presidential order for Andie to remain on base was oddly comforting.

And then the dreams started coming during the day.

The first waking-nightmare, Daniel thought he had imagined it. The base was under attack, the only escape was through the 'Gate. Just as he was about to go through, Andie walked into the Gateroom with Anubis in tow.

He snapped back into reality in the middle of a session with Andie who sitting across from him, watching him intensely. "Is something the matter?" she asked, her eyes blank of all emotion. "You let your thought go. You look rather pale. Are you sick?"

Shaking his head slowly, he said, "I'm just tired. Maybe we should finish this later. You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not," she said with a smile. "It was getting boring anyway. And my stories are on."

Daniel watched as she bounced out into the hallway. She was the same, and yet something was off. He kept expecting her to laugh for thinking such bizarre things about her, but she never did. And then there were the moments were he found her suddenly looking around the room she was in, startled and unaware of her surroundings. Like a frightened animal. It never lasted long; she would regain her composure and smile sweetly.

This continued for weeks. Daniel threw himself into researching the artifacts from P3C-423, but it only seemed to lead him in circles, and what little he had learned from Selmak and Jacobduring their brief visit hadn't been very helpful at all.

He felt as if he'd hit a wall made out of superstition, religious dogma, and DNA coding. And then the President authorized a film crew to make a documentary of the SGC.


	29. Closed Doors

Emmett Bregman had spent most of the morning filming the goings-on of the SGC and its key personnel. He was leading his film-crew through the different corridors in hopes of finding something of higher merit to film.

To his immense delight, he came across a guarded door. He patted the SF on the shoulder with a pleasant smile. "Would you mind letting us in?"

"Can't do that," the guard said with a slight smile.

Nodding, Emmett moved for the door handle. "We'll let ourselves in, then."

The SF moved more solidly in front of the door. "Gen. Hammond gave very specific orders."

"I have a right to see what in that room!"

"No you don't," Jack said coming up behind them, carrying a plate of bread and a can of diet soda. "In case you hadn't noticed, these are the personal quarters."

He looked around and suddenly seemed frozen in embarrassment. He quickly recovered and inquired, "So, why's there a guard in front of this door?"

"Your safety," he said, lightly knocking on the door before letting himself in.

Glaring at the SF, he demanded, "Why did he get to go in?"

"Because she won't kill _him_."

"She who?"

>>>>

Author's note: I'm having a bit of trouble arranging things just right, and Andie's being impossible at the moment, but the next few chapters will actually be interesting (whenever they allow themselves to be written, anyway). Promise.


	30. Interviews and Confusion

"I'll have you know I'm only here because Gen. Hammond ordered me to be," Andie informed the man she thought asked far too many questions for his own good. "And also, everyone worth talking to is off-base due to…" She grinned slightly. "Unforeseeable complications."

Emmett cleared his throat as an image of the pretty doctor popped into his head. "You must be used to that by now- having personnel being immediately required to go off-world." She stared at him coolly and he cleared his throat again but from a strange nervousness. "You must have a lot of free time on your hands."

"I have oodles," she replied caustically.

"What sorts of hobbies to you have to pass the time?"

"I watch movies and television when I'm not allowed in the labs."

He smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging manner. "One of the technicians mentioned you had a talent with building and modifying, but he didn't go into any detail." With many other SG personnel, this would have launched them into a detailed account of their very technical work, but the teenager merely stared at him. He was beginning to suspect she was doing it on purpose. "You look younger then most of the people at the SGC."

"Because I am," she replied, almost bitingly. "Is this going to take very much longer? You're boring me." She slumped down in her chair, the picture of adolescent annoyance. "And my stories are on."

He cleared his throat as he thought for a moment. "Well, I just wanted to ask you a few questions to get a clearer picture of what goes on around the SGC on an average day." He paused, slightly unnerved by the girl's intense scrutiny of his face. "We had heard you're another alien living here on the base- like Teal'c."

A malicious smile spread over her features and she sat up primly. "Alright, I'll play. What do you know about transubstantiation?"

Emmett never got the chance to answer. Sirens began blaring once again and people ran past the room in more hurry than usual. After a few minutes of confusion, Sam appeared in the doorway, tears streaming down her face.

She didn't say a word before Andie had knocked over her chair to launch herself into Sam's arms, already tearful herself. Sam kissed the top of her foster-daughter's head as she left the reporter without a second though to his questions and wondered, '_How can I lose all three of you at once?_'

From somewhere that felt far away, Andie projected her reply, '_I'm still here. I'm just hiding_.'

"I know you are," Sam whispered, lightly petting her hairas they hurried down the corridor.

"Know I am what?" she demanded out loud.

Mentally kicking herself, Sam said, "Confused. About this…" She stopped walking as she felt the tears building up again. "Janet's dead." A sudden coldness swept over Andie that Sam didn't miss. "And the Colonel's been seriously wounded. There was an ambush- Anubis-"

"You don't need to tell me about Anubis," Andie cut her off with an oddly emotionless, inhuman tone. She stopped and took a breath, then tearfully inquired, "When can I see Jack?" Still crying herself, Sam wrapped her arms around Andie's shoulders and led her towards the infirmary. Not for the first time, she was grateful for the girl's petite stature.


	31. Down in the Morgue

It was hours before Andie managed to break away and get off on her own.

_Andie,_ she snorted internally. She detested the diminutive, but in a very short period of time, it wouldn't matter any more. Everyone would know just who they were dealing with.

There weren't any guards around the morgue, but why should there have been? She walked through the dully painted doors and easily found what she was looking for.

The body of Janet Fraser was laid out, covered in a sheet but otherwise left alone in the chaos that followed the ambush. With an unnecessary flourish, she pulled the sheet off, revealing the still very new corpse.

"Wakey, wakey," she murmured, passing a hand over Janet's features, but not touching her.

With a start, Janet woke up in a room she swore was the morgue. She looked around and thought she was alone until Andie spoke behind her. "Don't let that death certificate fool you, you are perfectly well now," she said calmly. "Better than before, I imagine, not that I care much for imagination but there's no need to be boastful."

"Then, I did die?" she inquired slowly, feeling the charred front of her clothing.

Andie nodded. She was silent for a long moment then said, "I suppose there's no point in pretending any longer." She sneered. "Pretending to feel your ridiculous human emotions is exhausting. And having to be so damn sweet all the time… better this way, I suppose. Only a little earlier then I had planned. Still, I can make it work for me."

"How's Jack doing?" Gen. Hammond inquired, walking into the infirmary where SG-1 was waiting.

"They think he'll be fine," Sam said, clearly on the verge of breaking down.

The general was just about to reach a comforting hand out to her when Walter suddenly hurried into the room. "Sir, security monitors have picked up a situation in the morgue… Dr. Fraser is moving."

"_What_?" Gen. Hammond demanded, too stunned to properly respond.

"What do you mean Janet's moving?" Daniel demanded. "I watched her… I was there! It's not possible!"

"Possible or not, it's true." He hesitated as he said, "And, Sir, there's someone with her…"


	32. Caught

"What are you going to make work for you?" Janet demanded. "Andie, _what's going on_?"

The girl snorted. "Such a distasteful diminutive. Refrain from using it in the future." She stopped talking and something about the way she held herself kept Janet from speaking again.

"They're here," she said quietly, a rather malicious grin on her face. Janet nearly jumped out of her newly-living skin when the doors crashed open and several armed men entered, Teal'c at the front. "There's no need for such dramatics," Andie said, sliding down to her feet. "I'll turn myself in willing… for the moment."

->->->

The senior officers of the SGC watched the girl on the security monitors with varying emotions. SG-1 seemed to be numb, all expect Daniel who was becoming more jittery with each passing moment. Janet's death and resurrection was hard to digest, but after two days it was beginning to feel like just another event. "We can't just keep her on the planet!" he said suddenly, causing most of the room to stare at him in disbelief. "We _have _to get rid of her."

"We aren't just going to _dispose _of her!" Sam exclaimed in shock, then looked over at Gen. Hammond. "Are we?"

"Sam, I hate to break it to you but that's-"

"_Not _Andie," she interrupted. "I know."

"Y-you _know_?" he stuttered. "_How_?"

"Well, it was kind of _obvious_," Jack muttered, clearly still in pain from being shot. "You'd have to be an idiot not to notice how strange she's been acting."

"She's been leaving me messages," Sam confessed. "Telling me to act normally." She paused for a moment then said, "She can't read our minds. I don't know how, but she project and that's it. Andie's _in _there. I know she is."

"Be that as it may," Gen. Hammond said slowly, "that girl is a risk we can't afford to have fall into the wrong hands. She'll stay here, under lock-down and constant surveillance, at least until we can clear up the Anubis situation."

Sam looked like she was about to say something, but Daniel said, "General, I'd like to be the first person to speak with her… once everything else is taken care of."

"Do you think that's wise?" one of the other officers inquired.

Daniel shrugged. "She's been tormenting me for months. I'd like to think we have a rapport," he said calmly. "And also that she won't kill me the second I step through the door."

"She can do that?" someone whispered.


	33. A Little Recon Mission

Daniel took a breath before he walked into the holding cell. After all of the chaos of the last few weeks, Janet taking a leave of absence, Jack freezing himself after destroying Anubis, and Gen. Hammond being replaced with a civilian, he and Sam were in agreement - they wanted something good to happen. They just weren't quite sure how they were going to accomplish it. It was Teal'c who had finally suggested talking to her to try and find out anything useful.

"Well, someone finally comes to visit," the girl remarked dryly. "I've been ever so bored."

"Somehow I doubt that, Andromache," he retorted.

"Is there something particular you wanted, Dr. Jackson?"

He gave her a look of insincere concern. "Why so formal? After all, you've been pretending to be close with all of us for some time now."

"I understand Col. O'Neil is in a fair bit of peril at the moment," she said casually. "If you're here to ask for my help, you needn't waste your time or mine."

"You're in a holding cell. You have nothing _but _time," he pointed out rather caustically then added, "But I wouldn't ask you anyway. I honestly don't trust you." He smirked. "The thing is… you _should _know that." The girl's eyes narrowed and he continued, "It's funny, you have a better grasp on your abilities than Andie did, but she managed abilities you don't even seem to be aware that you have. Telepathy for example."

"That is of little importance," she snapped. "Do you truly think your guards and security measures could stop me if I wanted to leave this cell? Once she's completely gone, you _won't _be able to stop me."

"Stop you from what?"

She smirked. "Whatever I want."

"So, you don't even have some great evil plan?" he inquired, rather tauntingly. "I'd suggest taking over Earth, but it's really becoming passé at this point."

"Like I'd even want your back-water sinkhole," she muttered. "You people are so deficient, it's nauseating."

Daniel gave her an odd look, the phrasing not nearly as precise as she usually kept it, but he let it go. "It's a bit deficient for an evil genius to go around without a _plan_."

"It only proves my point for you to taunt someone who can kill you with their minds."

"Why did you bring Janet back?"

"Who says there was a reason?"

"Oh, so you did it to endear yourself to us? Not your style- I think you prefer projecting violent images into a person's mind to get what you want."

"Very astute. I can also kill you without moving a muscle," she warned.

"But you haven't," he remarked. "If that's what you wanted, you would have killed Teal'c and everyone else the second they came for you down in the morgue. _Why did you bring Janet back_?"

"She wasn't missing, and I don't know what you're complaining about."

"Answer the damn question!" he snapped.

She raised her nose imperiously. "The small healer has an immeasurable value in the care of the shell. Why throw out what you can fix, I believe you say."

"Did Andie make you?" he demanded. She snarled slightly and he continued, "She's still in there and you can't _shut her out_, can you? You can't suppress her as thoroughly anymore, we _know _that. She's stopping you from hurting us- you saved a person she cares about because she's filling your head."

"A tiny space in the back of my mind is hardly worthy of acknowledgement," she dismissed.

Daniel stared at her in amazement. "You _like _her." She turned to glare at him and he grinned in response. "You like Janet. A part of you can still feel. You _care _what happens to Janet."

"Janet Fraser proved herself _valuable_. I don't believe another doctor worthy to replace her," she snapped. "You don't need feelings to know someone is better in their field then others. It's the same way I know that you and Samantha will find a way help Col. O'Neill. It doesn't mean that I care- that I can feel _love_." She sneered and added, "You can't comprehend what weakness your emotions are. They cloud your sense and make intelligent people stupid. You _regret_ and _morn_- wastes of time."

"Andie never thought so," he reminded her quietly.

"And you'll all learn the folly in that. She can't win this," she whispered with a distinct venom.

"But she is." They both looked up in surprise at the voice in the corner of the room. "They didn't just succeed in creating a shell, they created actual _life_."

"Oma?" Daniel called out, unsurely, as a strange sensation rippled through his body.

"Have you forgotten so completely?"

"Can I kick her ass now?" a very familiar voice demanded. They turned to see a very animated version of Andromache standing on the opposite side of the bed.

"_Andie_? Okay, now, what the _hell_?"


End file.
